By fielding a “hurt” Carlos Sainz alongside Alex Albon, Williams will be bolstered by a driver looking to prove wrong the top teams that turned him down.
While there is naturally a lot of interest in Lewis Hamilton’s long-awaited move to Ferrari to partner Charles Leclerc, the driver Hamilton replaces has just as compelling a story, even if Sainz’s move to Williams is unlikely to lead to short-term success.
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From a race- and potentially constructors’ championship-winning car, Sainz will be dropped into a seat that is not going to fight for podiums in the short term, with Williams team principal James Vowles having its focus firmly on 2026 and beyond.
Sainz, who many observers expected to continue as a number two driver alongside Leclerc at Ferrari, may not have been a match for the lightning quick Monegasque on one-lap pace, but his race pace, work rate and intelligence has kept him in the game over their four years together. And he has proven that when he gets it right, he is hard for anyone to beat, as displayed during an emotional fourth Ferrari win in Mexico.
That dominant triumph further brought a bittersweetness to the surface over the prospect of having to vacate a front-running seat, as Mercedes and Red Bull also passed up on the possibility of bringing the 30-year-old into the fold for 2025.
But their loss will be Williams’ gain, with Sainz explaining his “hurt” ego has made him double down on proving a point with Williams.
“I’ve definitely come to peace with it,” Sainz told Sky Sports F1 in Brazil. “It hurt at the time.
“We all have egos. I have a driver ego, and I couldn’t understand it at the time. I still personally don’t understand some of the choices that people have made. At the same time, it creates even more of a challenge for me and makes me even more excited for Williams.
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, 1st position, Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, 3rd position, chat in Parc Ferme
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
“Williams is the one that has invested in me, that backed me up from the beginning, that came to me a full year ago, and that made me super excited. I told myself: ‘I want to give these guys what they’ve given to me. I want to return to them this trust they have in me.’
“I can’t wait to go there and, together with them, build something good.”
That fire in the passionate…
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