A weight was lifted off my shoulders. The uncertainty about his future didn’t keep him up at night, but obviously, it took up too much time in his head. But it’s over and Carlos is happy and calm about his decision to go to Williams. That’s the feeling distilled when chatting with Carlos Sainz in a calm and slow way at a round table on the first floor of Ferrari hospitality in the Netherlands.
there, The man from Madrid wanted to attend a small group of Spanish press present at the Zandvoort circuit, along with MDto explain the reasons why he signed for Williams, the team he will join next year, from 2025 onwards. Why Williams? Is Mercedes a real choice? Carlos spoke about all this, with a very mature speech, in which confidence in himself and in the future stood out.
Above all, he left that feeling behind when it came to Mercedes. Toto Wolff assured MD ahead of British GP that “Carlos is a good option if he decides to wait” given the offers he had on the table from Williams, Alpine and Sauber (Audi). I don’t want to depend on anyone. He wants to make his own decision and believes he has given Wolff enough time to choose him. It didn’t happen and Carlos didn’t want to wait any longer. He believes that his time in fighting for victories is not over. That will come. And he wants it to go with Williams, who now has just 4 points in his locker. But he is not worried.
Why did you decide to sign for Williams?
“Why Williams? Because since I spoke with them a few months ago, they have given me a lot of confidence, a lot of security. Following them for the last few years, they have developed a lot as a team. I think, they are also investing a lot in restoring the team where they deserve in Formula 1, with a clear and strong leadership, like that of James Vowles, and with a very clear project in mind and a very clear goal, which gave me a lot of confidence and calmness, with the fact that this is a team with a lot of pedigree, history in Formula 1, and I also have very good memories of the recovery phase at McLaren, where I think I helped to improve , because I said: ‘I want to go to Williams and try not to repeat, but do something similar to what we did at McLaren and help a historic team like Williams to get back to the front.”
In Belgium he said he would continue to wait to make a decision. And the next day came the announcement.
“I have done it for other reasons. I think that the wait is worthwhile. I think, as you all saw in the months before I made the decision and I did it at the Spa, I can say that , which is the week of Spa, which What I can say is that I think waiting is the right thing to do at the beginning the options of Red Bull and Mercedes are also considered because there is to consider them , because once you go to a team like Ferrari, you always look at the most competitive options. It’s in the teams you already know (Alpine, Sauber or Williams), I have to make a decision before the summer.”
“I want to make a decision before the summer, sorry, because it is important for me to go to the summer vacation with a relaxed mind, after a very difficult first half of the season, having to face the competition for a year at Ferrari. , which in itself has a lot of pressure and stress, as well as having to talk to a lot of teams, negotiating and talking to a lot of people.
What weighs more, 2025 or 2026 and beyond, when deciding?
“I look at it more in the long term, like 2025, 2026 and in the future. Then I will be calm, good and determined that this project is the one that can give me the most options to be as far as possible. in coming years. No “I set a goal of only 2025 or 2026, but I tried to study the project more. I think the people within the project are always very important, and obviously the pedigree of the team and what it means to achieve the goals.”
Why does a driver who wins races have to settle for, in quotes, going to a team that so far, in this case, has four points? Are you worried that your best results and most remarkable years in Formula One will end next year? Or is that something you trust, that Williams will come out on top?
“No, that don’t worry me. Having still, I don’t know if it will be five, ten or fifteen years of career ahead… because if you look at Fernando, he still has something left… well that doesn’t worry me. I think that in the future I will fight for victories and podiums again, which is where… not where I deserve to be, because I believe that the twenty drivers inside Formula One at the moment deserves to fight for victories because we are all equally or almost equally good, but this is the place where I think I belong, fighting for the first five positions, three first position, and I think, at some point I will do it. I hope it is as soon as possible and that it is with Williams, because right now that is what would be motivate me the most attracts me so, I think I still have room for improvement as a driver and with my experience and my values and what I can bring to Williams, I think we can get back to the front as well.
Toto Wolff told MD before the Silverstone race that if you decide to wait, it’s an option for the Mercedes seat in 2025. How realistic is that option? Is it too risky to continue waiting in case you run out of space and the priority is to get a seat for 2025?
“I think that when the time came in August, I waited too long and I also had to take care of my own interests, my own sports career, and make the decision that I wanted to make and not rely on third parties. That’s why it was important for me to make that decision myself, to be the master of my own destiny and not wait any longer, having waited as long as I waited until August 1, almost, then do my decision, which is the important thing for me before the summer.”
Do you understand that initially there were people in Spain who were not very excited about the decision to leave Ferrari to go to Williams after dreaming of joining Mercedes and Red Bull?
“Yes, I fully understand this, but what do you want me to do? In the end, this is the sporting career of a driver, an individual, a man who spent ten years working hard in Formula One and gave everything for his country, his flag and adding three victories in Spain Who would have thought ten years ago when I came to Formula One, even four years ago, in my first year at Ferrari, when we were so far in victories, right? to make the team a winner too and win races together, I know it doesn’t sound the same, but in the end, as always, it’s not how it starts, but how it ends for is that you obviously continue to support me “Stay behind me as much as possible, because that passion is always noticed and I’m sure that many people will continue to support me.”
What do you expect from Albon as a teammate?
“Well, a very fast driver. I think he has shown in recent years how much he has grown since his year in Red Bull, how much he has improved. He is a driver who ultimately helps Williams, he has also taken over. Williams to improve and I think with him we will make a strong pair of drivers, I will also learn a lot from him about how he manages to drive Williams in such a consistent and reliable way, because when you. see that way he has also defeated his teammate, it means that he is doing things very well and is leading the team very well, also wanting to see how I can help and how I can, together with him, take forward the team.”
He improved McLaren, then Ferrari, and now McLaren is fighting for victories. And time passed Williams. Could it be a similar path in the coming years?
“Yes, that was my goal. The key to my decision was also the motivation to help such a historic team with so much pedigree, being the third most successful team in Formula One. Trying to bring it back to the highest possible level. And then , to follow my instinct and my feelings I remember that when I left McLaren with the feeling that, obviously I will not miss the chance Ferrari, I will go to Ferrari, But. I left with the feeling that ‘here is the people and here is a team that one day it is possible that they will be there again after the podiums we achieved together This decision has a little bit of the same theory, of trying to be guided by my feelings, by the people I talked to, by people I see Williams and think that feeling might be right.
thank you very much
to you
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
