Williams detail 'rollercoaster' pursuit of Sainz signature

Williams team principal James Vowles has described his chase of Carlos Sainz for next year as a “rollercoaster”.

The Grove-based squad confirmed earlier this week that Sainz will join the team for 2025, partnering Alex Albon on a multi-year deal.

Sainz has been mulling over his F1 options for several months after being notified by Ferrari earlier this year that he had been dropped in favour of Lewis Hamilton.

Vowles revealed the first conversation he had with Sainz occurred in November last year, three months prior to Hamilton's bombshell confirmation that he would exit Mercedes.

Having held various discussions with the Spaniard since then, Vowles asserted he was only confident he had secured the three-time race winner when Sainz penned the deal.

“The moment it looked realistic was when his pen hit the paper,” Vowles told select media including RacingNews365. “That's the only time I thought it looked realistic.

“I got stung earlier in the year around Barcelona, I thought we were in a very good state and that's on our shoulders - we had a shockingly bad event. You can't do that in professional sport.

“But from the perspective of the ups and downs, it’s been a tribulation of ups and downs all the way through from, I would describe it as Monaco onwards, I think it's probably the right timeline.”

Vowles understands Sainz hesitation

Sainz was widely seen as the most desirable name on the driver market and therefore took his time over a decision to ensure he had the best possible deal presented to him. 

With a handful of other teams yet to commit to their line-ups for 2025 and beyond, Vowles stated he was not surprised Sainz opted to elongate his choice.

“It's been a rollercoaster, that's for sure,” Vowles said. “But it hasn't been a roller coaster for any more than the driver market, [which has] been really up and down. 

“There are no teams that have properly been committing or deciding the direction of travel right at the front. 

“That includes right up until now, last weekend there were still discussions over 'where does [Sergio] Perez go, what changes there?'

“When you have that instability, it's completely normal that a driver won't commit to you until such a point as they know what their future holds, and what doors and avenues are closed. 

“That's my opinion of it. So, as I said, until pen hit paper, I wasn't confident.”