Written by Vyas Ponnuri
After months of speculation, Carlos Sainz has finally penned a fresh contract for 2025. The Spaniard is all set to don the white of Williams come the start of the 2025 Formula One season, ending the growing worries over his future in the sport.
It hasn't been the easiest few months for Sainz. A driver who usually races knowing his future safe and secure, the Spaniard has instead been fighting to maintain his place on the grid, evaluating multiple offers as teams across the board eyed up the three-time race winner's services for the future.
The Ferrari driver will be leaving the team donning the rosso corsa at the end of 2024, having been at the team for four seasons after his short two-season stint at McLaren. He has also raced for Renault and Toro Rosso in the past, having been drafted into the sport as a Red Bull junior alongside Max Verstappen in 2015.
As such, he is a versatile package, a dependable head who brings upto ten seasons of credible experience racing at various levels in Formula One to the table. Another plus point is his four years at Ferrari, a top team on the grid in terms of the facilities and the way the team operates.
This experience would prove key for a team lower down the grid in the form of Williams, who are looking to repeat their glorious past once again. A veteran in Sainz would add plenty of value to the team who are looking to extract the most out of their Formula One cars every weekend.
Apart from his experience and versatility, Sainz is an excellent tactician, often making his own decisions from within the driving seat during his time at Ferrari. Such a feat was visible at the 2022 Monaco Grand Prix, when he opted to stay out on wet tyres until the track dried up to switch to slick tyres.
At Silverstone later in the year, he defied Ferrari's attempts to back the pack up to give teammate Leclerc a buffer ahead, instead overtaking the Monegasque and creating a gap enough to take his maiden Formula One victory.
Last but not the least, it's impossible to overlook his strategic masterclass at Singapore a year ago, when Sainz led the race during the closing stages, and smartly allowed second-placed Norris to benefit from the DRS along Singapore's tight confines.
This moment of quick thinking helped the Ferrari man hold off the charging Mercedes of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton to claim the only non Red Bull win all year. A special moment, and one of his best drives in the sport.
Such a skill would come even more handy down the order, when points are gold dust for teams such as Haas, VCARB, Williams, and Sauber at the moment, and it requires smart strategy and quick thinking to pinch home vital points in the battle for millions of dollars at the tail end of the grid.
Another vital facet Sainz brings to the table is his wet weather racing skills. The Spaniard took his first pole at Silverstone two years prior in a wet-weather affected session, his bravery into Club corner allowing him to snatch pole ahead of Verstappen, another driver renowned for his prowess in the rain.
It's rare to find a driver of Sainz's tier available in the driver market for as long as he was a free agent for 2025. Experienced, smart, versatile, strong racecraft, he was the fulcrum of the driver market, and his services were sought after by every team looking to fill their roster for 2025.
How the Carlos Sainz contract conundrum evolved with time
Ever since the big-ticket announcement of Lewis Hamilton making the biggest move to switch allegiances from the silver arrows to the Scuderia from 2025, Sainz has been scurrying around the grid eyeing a spot on the grid for next year.
With the announcement coming to fruition in February, the driver market was yet to spring into frenzy, and Sainz had many options at his disposal when it came to finding a seat.
A direct swap to Mercedes loomed on the cards, and it was a no-brainer, with Mercedes being a worthy beneficiary of a driver of Sainz's calibre, his pace and street smarts making him a worthy adversary alongside Russell at the team from Brackley.
However, speculations were rife about Red Bull scouting for a replacement alongside Verstappen for next year, with Sainz being a firm contender to take the seat alongside the three-time champion next year.
Although, the door to Milton Keynes was shut shortly after, with the Austrian team doubling down on trusting Sergio Perez, penning a contract with the Mexican until the end of 2026.
The door to Aston Martin had closed by then too, with Fernando Alonso signing a fresh contract with the team in British Racing Green until the end of 2026, when the team would be running with Honda powertrains at the rear of their cars.
A lucrative avenue emerged in the form of the Kick Sauber Formula One team — set to transition into Audi by the dawn of the new regulations. With the team in green mired towards the rear of the grid for 2024 and 2025, it would be short term pain translating into long term gain under a manufacturer powertrain and car.
Audi had initially given the Spaniard a deadline of the Monaco Grand Prix weekend in May to chalk up a deal, but Sainz instead opted to play the waiting game and keep doors open for potential opportunities at Mercedes or Red Bull.
Another left-field deal emerging was from French manufacturer Alpine, sending shock waves by announcing the return of a long-lost face on the Formula One world — former team principal Flavio Briatore to advise Luca de Meo on their Formula One operations.
With Alpine even contemplating switching to Mercedes power units as soon as next season, the carrot was dangled towards the Spaniard. However, Alpine have undergone a technical upheaval of their own, and are now on the lookout for a new team principal, their fourth in four years.
Such instability wouldn't have been ideal for any driver looking to excel, and thus, you could see why Sainz turned down a contract from the French manufacturer.
As such, the two options remained Mercedes and Williams. While Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff had shortlisted Sainz as an option for next season, the hot prospect of promoting a young Kimi Antonelli straight from Formula 2 to Formula One alongside Russell always loomed large.
With the Mercedes junior starting to find his feet in the premier feeder series, winning the sprint race at Silverstone and the Hungarian feature race, and putting in a fearless overtake into the infamous Eau Rouge corner in the wet at Spa-Francorchamps, the prospects have improved for such a move between both parties.
Thus, Williams emerged as the best possible alternative, with a stable team guided by team principal James Vowles who was seeking a talented driver alongside Alex Albon to guide the ship heading into the future, and take the team back to where they were in the past — fighting for wins and titles.
While he may have had to go in with a last-minute attempt to secure Sainz's services, Vowles ensured he got his man, the biggest name available on the driver market until then.
Williams as an improving force — the best option for Sainz today
Now we come to Williams, a steadily-improving force on the grid with every passing year. Team principal James Vowles took over the reins from Jost Capito at the end of 2022, and has set about restructuring and chalking out avenues for the team to improve.
The team endured their nadir in 2019, enduring a host of challenges on their way to a disastrous campaign, scoring only a singular point all season courtesy of Robert Kubica's tenth position finish at Hockenheim.
Ever since, the team have shown remarkable growth and improvement, revived under new funding from Dorilton Capital, with the Williams family finally ceding ownership to the American organisation midway through 2020.
Vowles has been laying out plans to take the Grove-based team back to their glory days ever since he took over 18 months ago, and has even hired technical staff, with Pat Fry and Matt Harman moving over from Alpine to the team in blue.
Additionally, the team extended their deal with Mercedes for power units until the end of the decade, ensuring stability and continuity with the German manufacturer. With word going around of Mercedes expected to make big strides in the powertrain department by 2026, the omens remain strong for a Williams comeback in the future.
Stability echoes all around the team, from funding to personnel, while the team are developing the infrastructure to match the requirements of the sport today.
Last, but not the least, Sainz will get to work alongside the highly-talented Alex Albon, a driver making headwaves ever since his move to the team in 2022. Someone who has outqualified teammates Nicholas Latifi and Logan Sargeant in every race till date, Albon has been class leader all through.
The Thai-Briton has driven some stellar races for Williams in the past, doing a monumental 57-lap stint at Albert Park in only his third race with the team, a drive securing a valuable point to open the team's campaign in 2022.
Only a year later, Albon and Williams made strong strides, benefitting from a low drag car whose straight line speed was nothing to scoff at. Such a strategy helped the team pull off seventh at Canada and Monza, the team's best results all season.
He was able to back it up with eighth at Silverstone and Zandvoort, apart from further points at Austin, Qatar, and Mexico, his final tally amounting to 27 points and 13th in the standings, strong metrics for Williams in their past.
Additionally, the duo have been good friends, with Albon helping Sainz recover from his appendicitis surgery earlier this year, which forced him to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The duo form a stellar, stable line-up heading into the future, taking away any worries of contract-related talks and uncertainties from the equation.
Vowles was delighted to finally sign Sainz onto the team's roster for 2025, having chased the Spaniard's signature for months on end. Now, with his ideal pairing for the upcoming seasons, all eyes will be on Williams to see if they can finally start to make the big strides their team principal once envisioned.
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