Williams team principal James Vowles says he is surprised Red Bull and Mercedes both passed up the opportunity to sign Carlos Sainz, after the Spaniard agreed to join Williams from 2025 onwards.
Sainz has signed a multi-year contract to race for Williams when he leaves Ferrari at the end of this season to make way for Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton’s move was confirmed in early February and Mercedes has yet to finalize his replacement, while Red Bull has weathered ongoing uncertainty over Sergio Perez’s seat, leaving Vowles surprised that neither team attempted to secure Sainz’s services.
“I rate him as one of the top four drivers, if not at times the number two driver on the grid,” Vowles said. “Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable?
“My view of things is, fundamentally, competitors are getting closer and closer, so the marginal difference the driver can make… and I don’t just mean in performance terms. Look at Carlos and look at every team he has been in – they have improved significantly. And I get why, after spending the last nine months talking to him at least weekly, if not daily, in truth. Carlos is a performance machine. He absolutely will do everything it takes within his power to not transform just himself, but the team around him at the same time.
“And that’s powerful, that’s worth more than what he can drive the car at, that’s worth that you move the team forward at the same amount. So when you’re in Red Bull’s position when 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 at 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.