Carlos Sainz has revealed that the "biggest change" following his move from Ferrari to Williams is nothing to do with the team itself, but its powertrain. This season marks the Spanish driver's 11th in Formula 1, with Williams being the fifth team he has signed for in his career. However, he has never before raced an F1 car featuring a Mercedes power unit, with his laps in Abu Dhabi's post-season test last year having been his first powered by the German manufacturer. Previously, at Toro Rosso, Renault and Ferrari, he had always driven a car powered by either the French or Italian companies. At the F1 75 launch event, RacingNews365 asked Sainz what the biggest change had been moving to Williams, where he made the Mercedes revelation. "I can talk a bit about [the post-season test in] Abu Dhabi and how the first laps went," Sainz said. "Definitely a thing you feel the most when you change teams, the moment there's a power unit [change] involved, is the power unit. The noises, the vibrations, the sound, everything just changes completely. "So even if I went out of the pits trying to understand the aerodynamics and the tyres and the feeling of the mechanical size of the car on the aero, the only thing I had to adapt for the first few laps was just how different a power unit can be." When racing for a team which uses a different power unit from a driver's previous outfit, it is not just the areas identified by Sainz which take time to get used to. It is also the different switches on the steering wheel which require time to adjust, as well as further areas regarding various procedures. "That's [the power unit] probably the biggest change, also the way the power unit operates, in terms of switches, switch changes," Sainz continued. "Especially nowadays in Formula 1, with so much going on, on our steering wheels and with the deployment of the battery, things like the procedures, safety procedures of the engine and the power unit. "It's all definitely the biggest change that I'm having to adapt to so far in Williams."
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