Sainz enjoys 'positive' first day of testing with Williams in Bahrain

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Williams enjoyed a productive opening day of pre-season testing on Wednesday in Bahrain where Carlos Sainz set the fifth fastest lap onboard the British outfit's new FW47 contender.

Save for a lengthy afternoon disruption caused by a power failure of the circuit's infrastructure, Sainz and teammate Alex Albon breezed through their sessions with ease as the pair worked diligently to develop and fine-tune the Grove-based outfit's new-spec design.

While Albon completed 63 laps, posting a fastest time of 1:31.573, the former Ferrari charger put in 68 laps and set a quicker personal best of 1:30.955.

A Solid P5 in the Pecking Order

"Overall, it was a positive first day for the team, especially given some of the track stoppages we had with the blackout", commented Sainz.

"We managed to complete the run plan, and we got in a lot of laps which is always the main target of the first day.

"First impressions are positive but obviously between now and the next couple of days, we’ll try to improve the balance of the car in both short and long runs."

Albon took over for the afternoon session, and despite the slightly warmer track conditions, he expressed satisfaction at the end of his own running, highlighting the FW47's consistency across various fuel loads and tire compounds.

"It was an okay day today", admitted Albon. "We still have a few things to work on, but our base car feels pretty sensible. This is what Testing’s about, trying to understand the systems and whether there are things we need to address.

"We’ve made a few changes to the car which is positive. As a team, we’ve had a couple of opportunities to run the car already this year so that’s a good thing - but as drivers, we always wish we had more time. All in all though, it was good to get out there!"

131 Laps in the Bag for FW47

Williams’ Head of Vehicle Performance, Dave Robson, shared the optimism of his drivers : "It’s always good to finally get a new car to the track and begin to understand how the performance and personality of the car compares to expectation", he said.

"We have worked hard during the car development period to resolve the weaknesses of last year’s car and to ensure that FW47 is competitive in a broad range of conditions."

"Carlos’ feedback from driving last year’s car in Abu Dhabi confirmed that we were focused on the right areas but only today could we begin the process of understanding whether that focus has been rewarded."

"Conditions were cool and gusty all day, and whilst not necessarily representative of how the weather will be when we return here for the Grand Prix next month, they are quite useful conditions in which to push the car and to explore its consistency."

"The car ran reliably all day allowing both drivers to get some valuable experience in the it. Based on their experience today, and using the data we collected from over 700km of smooth running, we will plan the final two days of pre-season testing."

F1 Testing is back on Thursday for Williams, first with Sainz returning to the cockpit for the morning before switching to Albon for the afternoon's run.