Former Aston Martin head of race strategy Bernie Collins has highlighted Williams’ enduring partnership with Mercedes and its power units as a crucial factor in Carlos Sainz’s decision to join the team after his contract with Scuderia Ferrari will expire at the end of the 2024 Formula 1 championship. Williams officially announced earlier this week that Carlos Sainz had signed a multi-year deal to join the squad starting with the 2025 campaign.
After being informed by the Maranello team that he would be replaced by seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton in 2025, the Spanish driver spent several months considering his future and evaluating all of his options, as he hoped to be able to get a seat at a top team that would have allowed him to continue fighting for podiums.
His new commitment to Williams extends into the sport’s new era with revised technical regulations set to begin in 2026.Williams, based in Grove, has a longstanding agreement to use Mercedes’ power units, which many regard as the best in the field. Bernie Collins, currently a strategy analyst for Sky Sports, believes that this strong collaboration played a significant role in Carlos Sainz’s decision to join the team.
“When you look at next year, you can’t see the order of the grid shaking up a lot from where it is this year. You can argue between Williams, Alpine or Audi – Williams is probably the best of those three teams next year anyway. Looking further ahead to 2026 with the proposed new regulations that are coming in, that’s going to put much more focus on the engine.” – Bernie Collins explained in a recent interview for Sky Sports.
Alpine, another contender for Carlos Sainz’s signature, especially considering the involvement of Flavio Briatore, is reportedly planning to discontinue its engine project and switch to using Mercedes power units, though no official agreement has been reached. In contrast, Audi, who has recently confirmed Mattia Binotto as its technical director, remains an uncertain prospect as it gears up for its inaugural entry into Formula 1.
Bernie Collins pointed out that Williams presented the most stable option for Carlos Sainz, thanks to Mercedes’ track record of delivering powerful engines at the beginning of new regulation cycles. This stability likely influenced the Spaniard’s decision to join Williams.
“We don’t know which engine provider Alpine is going to go with,” she said. “We know Audi is coming in for the first time in what is currently Sauber. We know that Williams will stay with Mercedes. The Mercedes engine, the majority of us consider that is the strongest given what we saw in 2014 with new engine regulations. The expectation is, even if it’s not up for podiums, wins or strong points at every race next year, potentially 2026 brings an opportunity. That’s maybe only one year of lost results. I think it’s that slightly more forward-sight on Carlos’ behalf, particularly when we don’t have anything written in stone for Alpine in terms of engines. That is definitely the riskiest one when looking ahead to 2026.” – the strategy analyst for Sky Sports and F1TV concluded.
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