Sainz-Albon partnership could be 'daunting' for Williams - Robson

Carlos Sainz’s arrival at Williams in 2025 is going to cause the team to have to adapt to the way it works and could be daunting for the engineering team, according to chief engineer Dave Robson. Williams pursued Sainz for a number of months and secured his signature ahead of the summer break, with the three-time race-winner replacing Logan Sargeant next year. Sainz will partner Alex Albon from 2025 onwards, with both signing multi-year deals, and Robson says it will change the dynamic within Williams that will mean the team needs to adjust. “I think there’s a couple of things that are going to be a little bit daunting for us as an engineering team,” Robson said. “There’s no doubt that it’s great news for us, and a real signal of intent, and we’ll definitely make things better. “But I think Carlos himself, I don’t really know him as an individual, but I do know that he has a reputation for really driving everybody very hard to get everything out of the car. So he’s going to be demanding I’m sure, which we need, but at the same time I know from my early time at Williams when we had Felipe and Valtteri , or before that at McLaren, when you have got two drivers who are pushing each other and fighting for the serious points-paying positions, then it becomes much more difficult. “It’s just an order of magnitude more difficult on the pit wall when you’ve got two cars directly racing each other. There’s no reason to think that it’s going to end up being bad, definitely not, it’s going to end up being good, but it’s definitely going to be different to what we’ve kind of got used to.” Robson says the first year working with Sainz before new regulations are introduced will be crucial in the team’s development to get the most out of its driver partnership.  “With a view to 2026 … there’s a load of engineering work to do to understand the car better and make the car faster, take what we can into 2026. But actually a lot of the learning process next year will be about understanding Carlos himself, reworking the dynamic of the team trackside – and at the factory – to understand how to deal with two drivers who are competing with each other. “It’s fantastic news, but it’s definitely going to shake us up a bit, in a good way.”