Carlos Sainz spoke for the first time as a future Williams driver. The announcement confirming his contract with the English team came after the Spa-Francorchamps weekend, when Formula 1 was on vacation, making Thursday at Zandvoort the first occasion for Carlos Sainz to face the microphones.
After long months during which he had to answer questions about his 2025 plans with generic phrases, he was finally able to shed light on the reasons that led him to his final decision.
“It was important to know my future before the summer break,” Carlos Sainz began in the press conference for the Dutch Grand Prix. “These have been among the hardest seven months of my career. I had to deal with everything that happened in January (the confirmation of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival at Maranello) while also trying to give my best on track as a driver. All this in a high-pressure, high-tension environment like the one at Ferrari.”
Carlos Sainz never hid his desire to return to focusing solely on driving as soon as possible, but at the same time, he wanted to carefully evaluate all the options offered by the market.
“Racing while having to think about the future, analyzing every opportunity in detail, is not ideal,” he admitted. “I couldn’t wait to put it all behind me, but at the same time, I also wanted to be one hundred percent convinced of my choice. In the end, I decided to focus on Williams, the team that immediately gave me excellent feelings from the start of negotiations.”
“The same feeling I had at McLaren”
Carlos Sainz made his final decision just before the Spa-Francorchamps weekend. Carlos confirmed that the role of team principal James Vowles was very important (“He was convincing!”), along with a feeling that took him back four years.
“In the years I’ve spent in Formula 1, I’ve also learned to trust my feelings,” he confirmed. “When I left McLaren in 2020, I had the sense that the team was heading in the right direction.”
“I remember well that after working closely with Zak Brown and Andrea Stella, when I said goodbye to the team, I told myself, ‘I don’t know if it will be next season or the one after, but this team is destined to start winning again,’ and so it was. Well, I felt the same way talking to the people at Williams, and I want to trust myself. I felt a very strong leadership and an equally strong will to bring a great traditional Formula 1 team back to the front line, and that motivates me; I think these will be interesting years in my career.”
Carlos Sainz knows very well that with Williams, especially in 2025, he won’t be able to hope for the same results he’s fought for in recent years, but that’s something he’s accounted for…
“I’ve been in Formula 1 for ten years, and in eight seasons I didn’t fight for wins; only in two or three years did I have that chance. So, actually, I’ve spent more time in a situation where I couldn’t fight for victory. I know this reality, and I can tell you that for me, the challenge has always been to extract the maximum from the car I have available.”
“The result doesn’t depend solely on the driver, as we know; it’s also linked to the car you’re driving, but the challenge that awaits me is to help the team. I like this role; I like feeling a lot of trust around me and being able to contribute. In 2025, I know there may not be wins or podiums, but I still think we can do a good job.”
“Now, though, my only goal is to do my best in the next ten races,” Carlos Sainz concluded. “I can finally race without having to think about my future anymore. Then there will be time to think about Williams, but… I hope you won’t keep asking me all these questions in the next nine races, as the decision has already been made. And then, we’ll have all winter to talk about the future.”
Leave a Reply