Williams has announced that Carlos Sainz has received Ferrari’s permission to appear in Formula 1’s season-concluding Abu Dhabi tyre test to get an early sample of his new team’s car.
Sainz will join Williams alongside Alex Albon in 2025, with his current deal to race for Ferrari expiring at the end of the year and his seat being taken by current Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.
Both Sainz and Hamilton will remain contracted to their current squads until the end of the calendar year, which means if their new teams wanted them to turn out in the Abu Dhabi test they would need to seek permission.
Mercedes has arranged end-of-year promotional commitments for Hamilton after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, with Autosport revealing earlier this week that he will therefore get his first taste of Ferrari F1 machinery in a Testing of Previous Cars run at an unspecified date in early 2025.
But Sainz can now jump straight from Ferrari’s SF-24 to testing Williams FW46 in the Abu Dhabi test that will take place two days after the 2024 season finale – in which he will hoping his current team can beat McLaren and Red Bull to the constructors’ title.
In a statement released on Friday afternoon, Williams said it is “pleased to announce today that Carlos Sainz will join the team for the upcoming Abu Dhabi end-of-season test, marking the first steps in his preparations for the 2025 season”.
The statement added: “This early opportunity will allow both Carlos and Williams to begin building their relationship.
“The test session will provide a valuable chance for Carlos to begin integrating into his new team environment, and he will drive the FW46 for the first time.
“Carlos will drive for Williams alongside Alex Albon in 2025, forming one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid.”
The Abu Dhabi test is run by Pirelli, with F1’s rules requiring each participating team to field both its cars, but with only one filled by a regular driver or new signing (such as Haas will do this year with current Alpine racer Esteban Ocon).
But it is unclear who Williams will get to test the other FW46 alongside Sainz.
Since he replaced Logan Sargeant after the Dutch GP, Williams junior Franco Colapinto has now completed more than the maximum permitted two races to qualify as a rookie, with a driver of that status required to be fielded by each team in the Abu Dhabi test.
Autosport understands that outgoing Haas racer Nico Hulkenberg is also set to drive in the test for the Sauber team with which he will race next year.
