Carlos Sainz expands on choosing Williams for his F1 future citing conviction and history, as Alexander Albon is pleased to have his experience.
He took his time but Sainz took his decision to join Williams just at the onset of the F1 summer break. It was coming with all signs towards the Grove-based outfit, but the Spaniard waited months before finally signing a multi-year deal.
There was a lot of conviction from team boss James Vowles that got Sainz hooked. And the history of Williams was another factor which has always played on the mind of the Spaniard, when he joined McLaren and even Ferrari for that matter.
He is fine to join a non-winning team as he notes that he has spent a lot of time in his F1 career without that chance to fight. It was a difficult period since January when Lewis Hamilton signed up with Ferrari, but Sainz is relieved to have gone through it.
His to-be teammate Albon is pleased with the signing too. He is waiting for what sort of feedback Sainz will give and if it matches with his own. He expects a strong challenge from him and also expects it to be challenging for the Spaniard to adjust to the environment.
Vowles, meanwhile, reckons the Williams line-up of Sainz and Albon to be the best in 2025 and he expects the Thai to be up to the challenge which will help push the Grove-based team to consistent point scorers in the immediate future.
Williams selection –
Sainz: “First of all, I think it was important for me to take the decision before the summer break. It’s been a very tough seven months of my career where I had to deal with everything that happened in January, in combination with obviously having to perform and deliver as a Ferrari driver in a high-pressure, high-attention environment in Ferrari, in combination with having to decide my future. You’re talking to so many other teams and analysing and putting everything on the table at the same time that you’re competing. That’s why I gave myself the target to take the decision before the break. And when I took the decision, I wanted to be 100 per cent convinced. That’s why I gave myself plenty of time as you guys could see.
“I took that decision because Williams is the team that, from the beginning, I had very good feelings and very good conversations with. I feel like they’re a team very committed to Formula 1 with a very strong project in the future, very strong leadership and the will to bring back a historic Formula 1 team with the pedigree that Williams has back to to the front is something that motivates me. It motivated me when I went to McLaren, when I went to Ferrari when Ferrari were down the grid after a tough 2020 and it motivates me now with a project like Williams. I cannot wait and I think it’s going to be an interesting few years in my career. For sure, stability. But also, I took the decision around the Spa week, just if you want to know if it interests you. So it was late.
“But I’ve always had the feeling during all those negotiations, I always kept Williams on the back of my head because I always had that good feeling with James and the investment group, Dorilton. And yeah for me, it was important people also. I’ve learned over the years in Formula One to trust in my feeling about people also. I remember when I left McLaren in 2020, I felt like I had the feeling that team was moving forward and was gonna be successful in the future, having spent time working with Zak Brown and Andrea Stella. When I left McLaren, I said, they might not be winning next year or the following but this team is this team with these people are going to be winning soon. And four years later they’re performing at an incredibly high level and if I had that feeling that time and now I have this feeling about them. People and the culture in Williams I need to trust that feeling and this is what I what I committed to.”
Moving to non-winning team –
Sainz: “No, because being very honest with you I’ve been in Formula 1 for 10 years and eight of them I haven’t fought for wins and two or three of them I have. So I’ve actually spent more time not fighting for wins than fighting for wins and Formula 1 for me is a lot about extracting the maximum out of the car. The result really is not purely dependent on the athlete and on the drivers, it’s depending on the machinery you drive. And it’s all about how am I going to also help Williams, how I’m going to help them and the project move forward. That really motivates me. I want to feel listened [to], I want to feel like I can help. And this in such a historical team like Williams that has such a clear vision and are super committed to bringing the team back to the front with very clear investment partners, I think it’s something that was important for me. I know the results for ’25 might not be wins or podiums, but I still think we can do a good job.”
James Vowles’ conviction –
Sainz: “It was very important. Obviously, he’s the leader of the project and he has the vision. And he shared that vision with his leadership and he convinced me. He did a very good job in that sense, into convincing me and into sharing the vision that he has and the project that he has in mind with me. And yeah, I think we are relatively similar characters in terms that we are both very analytical, very fair and open. He convinced me, as simple as that.
Managing season and future –
Sainz: “I think so. It is not easy to both compete at a high level as a Ferrari driver and at the same time having to take such an important decision on your future. It did take a lot of space on my mind and I think I was always open and honest with you that I was – I wouldn’t use the word struggling, because I never really struggled and my results showed that I wasn’t really struggling – but for sure it took energy out of my head and took mental energy. I remember going into the summer break in August, once I took the decision, with a bit of a relief feeling and saying: ‘OK, now I have to switch off a bit, recharge my batteries and come back for the next 10 races where my only focus is going to be delivering and performing 10 races for Ferrari without having to decide on my future.’ There will be plenty of time also to think about Williams and to talk about Williams after this race. I hope you don’t keep asking me in the next nine races because the decision is taken and then we will have all the winter also to talk about the future.”
Getting Carlos Sainz in –
Albon: “He obviously brings a lot of experience. He’s a very highly rated driver and it’s good to have him on board. I am especially interested to see what his feedback is. He has been at top team and being at Ferrari, similar to where I was at with Red Bull when I came across, you kind of have a lot of things that you want to try and change and things which he would have found over his time with the new generation of cars that he can bring over to Williams and have direct change and see where our weaknesses are. I’ve spent three years now driving Williams and you kind of get quite used to driving that and it’s nice to have that fresh look on things, especially for it to be at a top team, it always helps.”
Vowles: “I think what got it there eventually is that from the very beginning, it was the same message all the way through with Carlos. So all the way back to ‘23, really. Here’s where we are. Here’s the really bad bits of it. But here’s the good bits of it. And here’s what will come online. And I think across a period of about eight months, he could start to see what we were talking about and what was translating, what was happening behind the scenes. It was longer than I expected, but it was a rewarding journey. It’s one at the end of it where I really do believe in this partnership and I’m confident that it’s a very good driver line-up for us in 2025 and something that will propel us forward.”
His view coming into a non-winning team –
Albon: “Of course, we are not…in terms of performance but also structure, we are not the same level as Ferrari. We have seen this year as well across cars, the differences between cars and the issues with parts being delayed and what not. It is going to be a challenge, that’s for sure, I think it is going to be a very difficult environment for him. But the main thing for us is to make sure that we fix it. We can’t go through another year like we have this year into next year, it is going to be big focus to make sure that both cars are performing well next year, try and score points in every race with both cars. I think that is kind of a big thing for us as a team as well, it is great to have Carlos on board and now we need to facilitate and create a team where we can really fight for points regularly.”
Challenge for self –
Albon: “It will be a challenge of course, I think Carlos is very highly regarded, I welcome it. It’s great to have that competition and I enjoy that. For me, it is a great thing to have and we’ll be able to learn from each other. I have self-confidence, I rate myself and it is more just than the optics. It will be great challenge, I think we’ll push each other hard. Especially with the experience, I’ll be interested in what kind of feedback he has.”
Best line-up, Albon’s reaction –
Vowles: “That’s the whole point behind it. I mean, not just a good driver line-up. I think I have… the best combination or their best drivers on the grid. There’s no politics between them. They’re both incredibly fierce competitors but they develop the team. They are leaders at the same time and that will put pressure on the organisation. But that’s the whole intent behind it. It’s been many years since we’ve really had two drivers fighting at the front and you need that to reinvigorate the energy back into the team. When you’ve got two drivers fighting for the same millisecond, and I’ve been there quite a bit in my career, everything just shuffles upwards as a result of it.
“So, minute details around even just diff maps, how you get data out, how you use it, how quickly you get upgrades to the car, they migrate and change because you have a driving force behind it. So it’s a good thing, not a bad thing. I think with Alex, you haven’t seen him fully challenged to the level where he will move forward. Like any elite athlete, you have to have someone that moves the bar beyond where you thought it was set in the sand, and then it pushes you forward again. And not in a dramatic way, without politics, but just, here’s where performance is, let’s go find it. And with Alex, you’ll see a very different reinvigorated individual as the result of it. So I think you’re going to see a better Alex as a result.”
Here’s Alexander Albon on Williams being on the backfoot
Here’s Logan Sargeant differing with Alexander Albon
Here’s Carlos Sainz on good F1 2024, Frederic Vasseur praises him
Here’s James Vowles on Carlos Sainz hire
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