Sainz's Move to Williams

Carlos Sainz will race for Williams next season, with the Spanish driver admitting the decision to sign for the British team took time due to the “exceptionally complex driver market.”

Ferrari's Decision and Sainz's Career

Sainz’s seat at Ferrari was no longer available for 2025 after the Prancing Horse took the decision to replace him with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton. Speculation regarding where he would drive next season was a hot topic during race weekends this season. Rumours of moves to Audi, Mercedes and even Red Bull were discussed in the media but Sainz has now ended all gossip by signing a two-year deal.

The three-time race winner had stints in Formula 1 with Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren before joining Ferrari in 2021. He will become teammates with Alex Albon, although this now leaves American driver Logan Sargeant without a drive for next year.

Driver Changes and Williams' Future

Going into the 2024 season, every team went with the same driver lineup that they finished with at the end of 2023. However, despite only being July, many teams have already opted to reshuffle the pack and go with different drivers for 2025.

Williams will be looking to build towards the incoming regulation changes set to be implemented in 2026. The British team’s last win came at the 2012 Spanish Grand Prix.

Statements from Sainz and Vowles

Carlos Sainz: ”I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport.”

James Vowles, Team Principal: "Carlos joining Williams is a strong statement of intent from both parties. Carlos has demonstrated time and again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with race-winning pedigree, and this underlines the upwards trajectory we are on. Carlos brings not just experience and performance, but also a fierce drive to extract every millisecond out of the team and car; the fit is perfect.”

words: Mike Booth
pictures: Ferrari