Carlos Sainz shrugs off shakedown miss as Williams runs smoothly

Carlos Sainz said his confidence in Williams has not been damaged after they missed out on the Barcelona shakedown, with the Grove team "running smoothly" so far in Bahrain.

Williams impressed in terms of mileage on Day 1 in Bahrain, as drivers Sainz and Alex Albon combined for a total of 145 laps across the two four-hour sessions to top the charts for laps completed.

The strong first day of testing will surely provide a confidence boost for James Vowles team, after they skipped the Barcelona shakedown entirely due to delays in the FW48's development program.

Speaking to GPblog on Wednesday, Sainz admitted he was disappointed not to turn up at Barcelona, but explained why his confidence was not shaken by Williams' absence.

"I wouldn't say the confidence is damaged. I think it's more a realisation that there's still multiple areas where even if we were podium finishers last year, P5 in the championship, we're still not at the level of where we want to be in terms of comparing ourselves with top teams and the way they execute their winters, their preparations, their change of set of regulations.

When asked on how well the FW48 performed in its first official outing, Sainz was positive after he covered 77 laps, just under half a race distance in Bahrain.

"I'm glad we could do all the running without issues and catch up on obviously a time lost from Barcelona. It just seemed like it was a very, very productive day, getting to learn everything new about this regulation.

"We had to readapt our plan and do the best we could with what we had. and to turn up then to Bahrain and had a smooth day like yesterday, at least since the message back that we did it for a reason and that now we are running smoothly and trying to catch up with the others."

Elsewhere, James Vowles has given his full support to engine supplier Mercedes amid the increasing pressure on the Silver Arrows over their power unit 'loophole.'