A strong performance by Williams in Friday practice has left the team’s drivers confident for the weekend ahead.
Carlos Sainz Jnr lapped within a tenth of a second of pace-setter Lando Norris in the McLaren. “In terms of lap time and performance, it looks like an encouraging day,” he told the official Formula 1 channel.
“I think we seemed to hit the ground running this morning with a good set-up and a good balance that seemed to give us decent lap times.”
However Sainz admitted he isn’t fully at one with his car yet on his first visit to Formula 1’s fastest track since joining Williams from Ferrari.
“In terms of confidence, I’m not quite up there,” he said. “I’ve been struggling a bit in turn 11 [Parabolica] and turn seven [Ascari], to throw the car in and be at home.
“The car feels quite different to a Ferrari around here. It has some very good traits, some very difficult ones. Every lap I do I’m trying to learn how to adapt around and drive around it.
“But there’s promising pace, as I said. Now I just need to make sure I feel more comfortable on the first lap on softs when you put this first lap in the tyre and also a bit in a couple of corners where I’m still lacking a bit.
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“But all in all with all those things here and there, good pace.”
Alexander Albon ended the day seventh on the times sheet, four places behind his team mate, but only three tenths of a second off Norris in the McLaren. Following his early exit from qualifying at Zandvoort, Albon said his priority is enduring they get the best out of their tyres over a single flying lap.
“It’s been a really tricky day [because] we had a big run plan and we’ve just been trying to get through everything,” he said. “But the car’s quick and we’re in a good place.
“It’s more [a matter of] can we make it repetitive and can we get the same car that we’ve got today for tomorrow? There’s a lot of work to be done.
“We have sweet spots and we’ve seen it time and time again this year, our out-laps and getting the tyres working in the right window is going to be tricky. So we just need to make sure we can actually execute what we want to do.”
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