Vowles incredulous at rivals inability to sign Sainz for 2025

The arrival of Sainz is the latest move by Team Principal to move Williams up the competitive order

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�Williams Team Principal James Vowles is incredulous that F1’s top teams have failed to secure Carlos Sainz.

Vowles incredulous at rivals inability to sign Sainz for 2025 (Image Credit: PlanetF1)
Vowles incredulous at rivals inability to sign Sainz for 2025 (Image Credit: PlanetF1)

Sainz will join the Grove-based team next season after signing a multi-year deal before the summer break. The announcement ended months of speculation and freed up the blockage in F1’s driver market.

Sainz’s imminent arrival saw the team erupt into raptures when Vowles revealed he had signed the soon-to-be-ex-Ferrari driver. Williams beat off competition from Audi, Haas, and Alpine to secure the Spaniard’s services. Mercedes and Red Bull both chose to let Sainz off their radar.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the hot favourite for the Mercedes seat. Multiple drivers are supposedly in the hunt to be Max Verstappen’s teammate next season.

A ‘top four’ driver

Speaking to formula1.com, Vowles said the Spaniard is one of F1’s elite drivers: “I rate him as one of the top four drivers, if not at times the number two driver on the grid. Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable?”

“When you’re in Red Bull’s position, where you’ve got a constructors’ championship at risk, it’s always a hard decision but, yes, I would have Carlos alongside Max. If you’re in Mercedes, it’s a hard choice. They’ve swayed between not being competitive – in which case it makes sense to invest in the future – to being very competitive. Now it’s a harder decision as to whether you invest in known entities or unknown.”

Vowles said while he understood the decision, he was surprised at the move:

“They’ve made their decisions sensibly and if Red Bull decided to do similar, again there’s reasons behind it that I won’t be aware of because they’re multiple world champions and don’t make decisions lightly. But I was surprised.”

The Williams Team Principal said signing Sainz highlighted the ongoing transformation of Williams in recent seasons:� “I think it’s a huge, huge event for Williams to have two of the best drivers in the world fighting at the front,” Vowles explained. “I think it’s very much a sign of things to come, the fact that we are prepared to have the investment required to be there.

“A lot of it, you can’t see. What you can materially see is what we’re doing by effectively putting money where it should be, into the best drivers that are available to us.

“In terms of beating an OEM [Original Equipment Manufacturer], one of the largest in the world, I’m incredibly proud. I said this to Carlos anyway – it was one of the proudest moments of my career, and I’ve had lots of great moments of my career. The fact he chose us above all else is a monumental decision.”

 

Feature Image Credit: Williams Racing

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