Why Williams thinks it has secured F1’s second best driver on his day

Williams team boss James Vowles has enjoyed plenty of highs in his Formula 1 career – including having helped Brawn and Mercedes to world championship titles.

But he has no doubts that his team’s capture this week of Carlos Sainz for 2025 and beyond marks the proudest moment of his career.

Along with the huge vote of confidence that Sainz’s decision delivers for the vision that Vowles has for Williams, he can hardly believe that he has been able to get hold of someone he rates so highly. In fact, his belief that Sainz is one of the very best drivers in F1 makes him a bit taken aback that race-winning teams like Red Bull and Mercedes did not go for him.

Asked if was surprised by that call, Vowles said: “Yes is the short answer to it, because 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?

“My view of things is that fundamentally, competitors are getting closer and closer. So [look at] the marginal difference that a 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.”

Vowles said that he was so eager to get the Sainz deal across the line that he spent untold time speaking to him on the phone – so much so that he jokes his partner Rachel Rolph began to question what was going on.

“I get why, after spending the last nine months talking to him [Sainz] at least weekly, if not daily in truth, Rachel, my partner, has been very, very confused as to our relationship together relative to mine with Carlos,” smiled Vowles.

“But what I’ve realised with him is that he is a performance machine. He absolutely will do everything it takes within his power to not transform just himself but the team around him as well at the same time. And that’s powerful. That’s worth more than what he can drive the car at.”

It’s this extra benefit that Vowles thinks should have been enough to convince Red Bull or Mercedes to go for Sainz – even though he thinks they may have alternative reasons as to why they did not.

“When you’re in Red Bull’s position, where you’ve got a constructors’ championship at risk, it’s always a hard decision,” he said. “But yes, I would have Carlos alongside Max.

“If you’re in Mercedes, it’s a hard choice. But I think they’ve swayed…