How the two busiest months of Sainz's career have prepared him for life at Williams

There’s something about Carlos Sainz that sets him apart from his fellow Formula 1 drivers: he’s always worth listening to.

Take his theory about how pre-season testing could be improved. Given the teams are these days spending considerable sums flying their drivers from (mainly) Monaco to work on the simulators in their sprawling factories, often for single days at a time, they should instead club together and do another eight to 10 days of real pre-season running with their new machinery.

Assuming such costs add up to less than flying the many team personnel around the world to run those cars, it illustrates how Sainz thinks differently to his peers. And now that he’s a director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, he’ll be thinking on their behalf a lot more these days.

As he settles into his new home at Williams, he chats to Autosport during the final day of pre-season testing in Bahrain. With his time in the FW47 complete until rocking up in Melbourne for the opening race of the season – the scene of his famous win last year – Sainz is ready to offer his wise, considered thoughts on his start to life away from Ferrari… 

So, here in Bahrain at the end of February, it’s now been almost two months since you officially started at Williams, plus you had the Abu Dhabi test as well. How have you found this team now you’re here?

Yeah, well first of all, the Abu Dhabi test, I got a good first impression in terms of how I saw a team that was honestly really motivated, very happy. And also to have me there and to start pushing. And I think the Abu Dhabi test was positive, was very good progress made in that day. Very important test for me to get that first feel for everything. And it gave us homework to do over the winter.

And then we had, honestly, probably the two busiest months of my career. I’ve been squeezed to the maximum by Williams in the factory. I spent more time than in any other team back at base doing simulator sessions and meetings with everyone from the factory, but also with HPP [Mercedes High Performance Powertrains, Williams’s engine supplier and one Sainz had not sampled in his F1 career].

And, yeah, it’s been my busiest winter. I probably didn’t put as much focus, or as much as I wish, onto my physical preparation – because we’re just so busy learning so much of the other stuff that I hope it pays off. Very busy, but very positive, very interactive. And a lot going on, I must say.

Sainz’s physical preparations had to take a back seat as winter of “busy-ness” culminated in Bahrain test

Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images

Well, my next question was going to be, ‘Was there anything that surprised you at Williams as you joined?’ But maybe it’s the busy-ness. Was that something that you weren’t expecting after leaving Ferrari?

Yeah. Busy-ness is a good one. I think busy-ness has surprised me how much the team – both my race engineer and the rest of the team – is demanding from me to be on top of. I’m always very [thinking], like if they would not be demanding, I would be the one demanding these meetings and asking to be in the sim. But the fact that it’s come from the team gives me a good impression in terms of how switched on everyone is and how driven everyone is to make progress and to hear from things and to interact and share different things. So that was definitely a good one.

And then second, I think it doesn’t surprise me because I could already sense it, but the team spirit seems to be very good. Like, everyone seems to be on board with the vision and the project of JV [James Vowles, team boss] and the top management, Dorilton. Everyone seems to be excited about the project. Everyone is 100% behind the management and you can tell everyone seems in a happy place. Everyone is comfortable to be proud to be part of the journey and Williams. And this gives me, for sure, the most important good impression.

“I’m not going to lie, there was those six months of negotiating with many teams and hearing from also a couple of the top teams to see what they were thinking, which was quite tough” Carlos Sainz

It sounds then like you already had a bit of an inkling of what things were like inside the team. But what did you think of Williams in the years before you considered joining the squad? It’s been quite a journey this team’s been on – even just in recent years. So, what would you think of Williams when you looked at it through that time you were racing for other teams?

I think, obviously, we all remember the most difficult Williams years. You know – 2019, 2020, 2021 – when the team looked in serious trouble. I think since Dorilton took over and JV arrived, I think we [as F1 drivers] all have looked at how that thing was developing. And I think they managed to turn it around very quickly, with the progress and the project, the vision, that they are showing. And I think everyone agrees in 2025, that since 2021-22, there’s been a clear trend of positiveness and progress.

That probably was also one of the key things that convinced me to join the project last year. And now I see and feel that the most important thing for us this year is just to keep showing progress. Keep following that trend – that’s the most important thing.

Strong sense of vision and purpose under Vowles cited by Sainz as crucial in bringing him on board

Photo by: Getty Images

Now, probably, lots of people have asked you this already this week, maybe even in the weeks previously around the car launches and F175. But, just going back exactly a year to the situation you were in and knowing you were out of Ferrari, what can you tell us about how you were really thinking at that time and how you were dealing with that news?

Well, first of all, I had the winter of 2024 to digest it. It wasn’t easy to digest it because I think I went from being 99% convinced I was staying in Ferrari [and getting a new contract beyond 2024] to suddenly being out of Ferrari. So, it took me time to digest it and to make peace with that. Make peace in my head with the fact that I was not going to be in Ferrari as long as I thought I was going to be.

Obviously, at the time, I felt like I deserved to stay at Ferrari. And, obviously, I wanted to keep proving to myself and to everyone that I still deserved to be part of Ferrari, even if a seven-time world champion decided to move. And that did me well. I think it created a good effect in myself through the year, and I managed to convert that into driven and positive energy for the season, and I did a good step [in early 2024].

Then, I’m not going to lie, there was those six months of negotiating with many teams and hearing from also a couple of the top teams to see what they were thinking, which was quite tough. And very busy times on the phone and at the circuits – having meetings with many people and having to split performing in Ferrari with a good car, doing podiums and trying to win races, with negotiating all these things.

Plus, I was having some very positive feedback from top teams. Then they were saying, ‘Maybe it’s not going to happen, maybe yes, maybe no’. It is distracting and it was messing with my head at the time. But I managed to keep it more or less OK going through the year.

And then I feel like, once I cleared up my future and decided about Williams, I think the second half of the season was quite strong for me. And I felt like I was in a better place and already excited to join here for the following year.

The then Ferrari driver showed his class with last year’s Australian Grand Prix win on his return after appendectomy

Photo by: Mark Horsburgh / Getty Images

Do you get frustrated by those types of questions? And I only ask because I thought back to the launch of the FW47 at Silverstone and, while I’ve done it as well, lots of questions kept coming up about how you’re feeling about going from Ferrari, to stepping down the grid, being frank, with Williams? There seemed to be a note of something about that line of questioning – is that right?

Honestly, I understand it and I don’t mind it. Because I get the feeling like you guys also, in a way, are backing me up with the fact that you guys, in a way, think I’m going through something. Because maybe you guys believe I still belong to the front of the grid and not to the midfield pack.

And that gives me a positive feedback. Like, if these guys keep asking me, ‘How is it going to feel?’ and all these sorts of things, it gives me the feeling that, ‘OK, these guys at least value me also, because they believe it should be difficult for me, given the performances of last year, to be [going] back’.

The reality is that, for me, it’s equally important to feel at home in the team and to be fighting at the front of the field in Formula 1. I think to feel like home, I felt it in McLaren really well. I think I’m bringing the best out of any Formula 1 driver. And the fact that I’m building something with Williams also motivates me a lot more than what people think.

And, yes, I know I’m taking probably a step back in terms of overall performance for a couple of years. But if we actually manage to build something out of this, and I am part of that journey and we manage to make Williams competitive again, there’s nothing that will make me happier or more proud. And this is a fact. This is what motivates me and this is why, for me, it’s fundamental to see the team be as driven as I am to make this happen – because this is what keeps me happy.

“I really believe I can help the GPDA. And help my sport to become better in certain things that I find common sense and logical” Carlos Sainz

Now, turning to a rather different topic: you’ve joined the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association. I wonder if you could please explain what was the process for becoming a director? And why do you want to do it and what do you want to achieve with that role?

Well, for me it was all about when I turned 30 last year and I felt like I’ve achieved a certain level of maturity and understanding of how Formula 1 works – both on track and outside of the track. And over the last few years I’ve been more and more in touch with Alex [Wurz, GPDA chairman], worried about different topics. And at some stage last year, and this year during the winter, once I reflected on where I’m at being 30 years old, where I want to go, I really believe I can help the GPDA. And help my sport to become better in some certain things that I find common sense and logical.

And I called Alex and said, ‘Look, I think I would like to present my case for joining the GPDA’. Also, for us as directors, also knowing that before there was only one active driver [George Russell] as a director and I thought it could be good [for there to be another]. Also maybe for the interest of the sport given that I’m not going to be in that fight at the front of the grid this year, just having someone maybe a bit more out of those heated battles at the front, also giving an opinion, would be helpful.

I’m for sure trying to help with whatever I can. So, yeah, I offered myself and everyone agreed and it came quite naturally. 

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Sainz admits nothing would make him more proud than helping turn Williams into a competitive force again

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Getty Images