Carlos Sainz embarked on a new adventure in 2025 when he joined Williams and set about playing a key role in their planned return to winning ways. At the end of a rollercoaster season, which featured early headaches, hard-fought breakthroughs, memorable podium finishes and a remarkable rise to P5 in the Teams\u2019 Championship, he joined F1.com to review it all\u2026<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the penultimate round of another busy F1 campaign and, while there\u2019s the small matter of a Drivers\u2019 Championship to be settled between the McLaren duo and Red Bull\u2019s Max Verstappen, plenty of racers up and down the Qatar Grand Prix paddock are already in a reflective mood.<\/p>\n
One of those is Sainz<\/a>, the experienced, multiple Grand Prix winner who was suddenly forced to rethink his career path in early 2024, when Ferrari dropped the bombshell news that they had signed seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton<\/a> as his replacement for 2025 and beyond.<\/p>\n Sainz\u2019s whirlwind first year at Williams<\/p>\n After considering the many options in front of him, Sainz decided that the once-dominant Williams<\/a> operation represented the best opportunity for success in the short and long-term, with team boss James Vowles working hard on a rebuild aimed at delivering a new race-winning and championship-contending era.<\/p>\n There has certainly been a lot for Sainz to get used to over the last 12 months, from a different factory to a different team mate, and a host of new colleagues to an all-new car, meaning it is no surprise to hear that his 11th campaign in the sport has passed in a blur.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gone much quicker than I thought it would!\u201d Sainz smiles as he sits down with F1.com at Williams\u2019 hospitality unit in Lusail. \u201cThe fact that we are on the run so much in between races, non-stop\u2026 The sport is growing massively, so you do more marketing, more travelling, more races… By the end of the year, you cannot understand how it\u2019s all flown by.<\/p>\n \u201cBut, if you told me at the beginning of the year that there was going to be fifth position for Williams at the end of the championship, a good step forward, closing the gap to the top teams, and a couple of podiums, I would have taken it. It\u2019s been a good year overall.<\/p>\n \u201cAlso, when I signed with Williams in the summer of 2024, if I would have told people that I\u2019m joining them because these results are going to happen, they wouldn\u2019t have fully believed me. I have the results now to back why I chose this team \u2013 a vindication.\u201d<\/p>\n Short-term pain for long-term gain<\/p>\n Standout results did not come at the click of a finger, though, with Sainz spending the first few Grands Prix of 2025 adjusting the FW47\u2019s set-up, adapting his driving style and getting used to the outfit\u2019s way of operating \u2013 all while new team mate and established Williams driver Alex Albon strung together his strongest start to an F1 season.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m trying so many different things with my set-up and my driving that for sure, you see progress,\u201d he explained at the fifth round of 24 in Saudi Arabia<\/a>. \u201cSometimes I try something, but I go backwards, and that then makes me go forwards, because I know which direction I don\u2019t need to go in.<\/p>\n \u201cThe same applies to my driving. I try little things with my driving style and the switches in the car, and sometimes I go backwards, but sometimes it helps me go forwards. It\u2019s an adaptation process. I was warned it was going to take time, and it is taking time, but when I get it, I\u2019ll be there.\u201d<\/p>\n Sainz could at least draw on first-hand experience and perspective from several previous team moves \u2013 having made his F1 debut back in 2015 and spent almost three seasons at the then-named Toro Rosso (now Racing Bulls), before representing Renault for just over a year, McLaren for two years and then making the switch to Ferrari.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m a driver that, fortunately or unfortunately, has had to change teams quite often,\u201d he underlines, as our conversation continues. \u201cI\u2019ve always been very vocal about how long it takes a driver to adapt to a new team, to extract the last couple of tenths out of the car, and to feel at one with it, but also with your engineers, with the rest of the team.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like no one really bought that a few years ago when I was saying it. When I went from Toro Rosso to Renault, from Renault to McLaren, everyone was like, \u2018Yeah, but you\u2019re F1 drivers, you can do it\u2019. The fact that so many drivers have recently changed teams, and everyone\u2019s realised that it takes time \u2013 even the best ones take time to adapt \u2013 has kind of proven my point.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is, with the talent and the speed there is nowadays in F1, when you\u2019re up against Alex Albon in a Williams, Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari, or Max Verstappen in a Red Bull, they know the car by heart, so it\u2019s very difficult to come in and immediately be at that level, as they\u2019re already at the limit.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the best case, you can match that and maybe improve it a bit, but in most of the cases when you\u2019re new to a team, you\u2019re going to be a step behind in every Free Practice session, in every Qualifying session, and in every Grand Prix.\u201d<\/p>\n Alongside this on-track push, made more challenging by a frustrating series of incidents and technical issues (Sainz\u2019s mid-season assessment being \u201ceverything that could go wrong has gone wrong\u201d<\/a>), there was a balance to strike with off-track efforts.<\/p>\n \u201cBecause you are new to the team, there are all these extra simulator sessions, all these extra visits to the factory that you need to do, but there\u2019s also all the extra marketing you need to do, because all the sponsors want you,\u201d Sainz explains.<\/p>\n \u201cYou end up being overloaded with too much simulator, too many factory visits, too many marketing things, so to combine that, plus to deliver on track, the energy levels are not easy to manage, and it takes a bit of time to find a balance.<\/p>\n \u201cTo deliver in F1, you need a balance, and during the first six months in a team, there\u2019s very little of that balance. So, you just need to stay patient, you need to trust the process, and you need to know that at some point, everything is going to click.\u201d<\/p>\n Following the leader<\/p>\n One man firmly in Sainz\u2019s corner throughout this period of adaptation was Vowles, who spearheaded Williams\u2019 efforts<\/a> to secure the Spaniard\u2019s signature in 2024 \u2013 fending off competition from the likes of Kick Sauber (prior to their Audi rebranding) and Alpine.<\/p>\n When results were hard to come by on Sainz\u2019s side of the garage, Vowles proclaimed to the media that he was still getting \u201cmore than I paid for\u201d \u2013 pointing out the value his new driver had been bringing off the track, and insisting it would all come together on the track sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n It is a relationship that appears to have gone from strength to strength, with both parties naturally determined to make progress and move up the grid as quickly as possible, but sharing an openness and transparency that ensures there are no \u201cnasty surprises\u201d along the way.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter a tough end to 2024, with a lot of crashes, lacking parts, and being slow in Abu Dhabi, James was like, \u2018Next year\u2019s car is going to be okay. We\u2019re going to be quick. It\u2019s going to be a good step\u2019,\u201d says Sainz. \u201cThe moment we put the new car on track for testing in Bahrain, I realised how much of a big step the team had done.<\/p>\n \u201cBut then, as much as he told me those positives, James also said, \u2018You\u2019re going to see some very big flaws that we have as a team at the moment\u2019. He was very honest about it, he spoke sense, and he was very realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n Expanding further, Sainz adds: \u201cThe thing about Williams is there are so many areas where the team is closer to the top than what I would have expected it to be, but then I also found some other areas that we are very far behind. For me, it\u2019s about being very vocal and very clear about the areas that are not good enough.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are very big contrasts in this team. You have incredibly talented people, you have very good ideas, but then there are other things \u2013 processes, tools, simulation \u2013 where the team is really, really far behind. It\u2019s how we accelerate the process, and everyone\u2019s working flat-out to develop those weaknesses to make sure we are a top team.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel like the good thing is the management, in this case James and [Dorilton Capital<\/a>], were always super honest to me about them. All of the [weaknesses] have been briefed, I haven\u2019t found any nasty surprises, and I\u2019ve just gone into it being realistic, knowing that the only thing I can do is give my best to try and help.\u201d<\/p>\n Sainz, sealed, delivered<\/p>\n It makes what Williams ultimately achieved in 2025 even more impressive \u2013 the squad turning a lowly ninth position in the Teams\u2019 Championship and just 17 points the season before into a high-flying fifth place and a significant return of 137 (their highest yield since 2016).<\/p>\n While it was Albon doing the heavy lifting early in the year, Sainz more than played his part over the second half, returning from the summer break determined to apply the lessons he had learned and to put that aforementioned run of dramas behind him.<\/p>\n At the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the breakthrough came, with Sainz starring in a tricky, rain-affected Qualifying session to place a brilliant second on the grid behind Verstappen, before converting that into a podium on merit across a dry race.<\/p>\n Mentally prepared not to feature on the rostrum for the foreseeable future following his Ferrari exit, Sainz emotionally erased that thought and gave Williams their first top-three finish since George Russell\u2019s in the rain-shortened 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, and before that Lance Stroll\u2019s at Baku in 2017.<\/p>\n \u201cI think there were two things about Baku that I really enjoyed,\u201d smiles Sainz, who remains Ferrari\u2019s most recent Grand Prix winner. \u201cThe first was obviously giving all the mechanics, giving Williams their first podium in many, many years, and probably the first podium for a lot of people who maybe were not there in 2021 with Russell.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, also for me, a bit more validation. It had been a tough first half of the year. I kept saying to the press that I was quick and I just lacked results to prove it, \u2018Everything is going to come\u2019, but the results were not coming my way.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen there was an opportunity for a podium, I grabbed it, and I could say, \u2018This is what I came here to do\u2019. I also felt so comfortable racing for a podium again. After six months of being away from the podium, you think, \u2018Will I be a bit nervous or a bit rusty?\u2019, but I took the chance and delivered.\u201d<\/p>\n Continuing the momentum<\/p>\n Sainz would deliver again during the Sprint in Austin and the Grand Prix in Qatar, giving Williams some more silverware to take into the winter \u2013 a period Vowles has long targeted given the huge regulation changes coming into play from 2026, and the opportunity those bring for all teams to launch themselves into contention<\/a> in F1\u2019s budget cap era.<\/p>\n With much-needed factory developments in the works, new tools and systems coming online, new hires making their mark across various departments, and a new Mercedes-powered challenger on the way, there is plenty to feel optimistic about at Grove.<\/p>\n So, what is Sainz\u2019s outlook for the next phase of his and Williams\u2019 journey?<\/p>\n \u201cThe team is on an upward trajectory, and it\u2019s fundamental to continue that trajectory \u2013 it\u2019s important to keep showing progress, to not stall that progress that we are showing,\u201d he comments.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving said that, with such a big change of regulations, that progress might look different next year, because it\u2019s going to be so unpredictable to know where everyone\u2019s going to be. But I trust what the team is doing, I trust all the efforts that we\u2019ve been putting into next year\u2019s car through all the simulator sessions and all the development work.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m feeling positive. I\u2019m relatively happy and confident about it, but with the impossibility to say more than, \u2018I don\u2019t know where we\u2019re going to be\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n