January 1, 2025: Lewis Hamilton is officially a Ferrari driver. But the new year brings more than just this novelty: there are many other developments and stories coming to fruition. Among them is the one that takes Carlos Sainz to Williams. The Madrid native has already had a taste of the FW46, the 2024 car, during the post-season tests in Abu Dhabi, getting familiar with the operational dynamics of the Grove team. However, this was still an exception granted by Ferrari for “good neighborliness.”
As of today, the official working relationship begins between the former Ferrari driver and a team that finished second-to-last in 2024, showing some faint progress but still remaining a team searching for itself. Williams has a long way to go to catch up to the teams that set the pace, and it won’t be a painless operation.
Carlos Sainz: a tough task at Williams
The team led by James Vowles has to deliver more than it can ask. The courting of Carlos Sainz was intense, and if the Madrid native agreed, it was because he believed in a project that clearly cannot be short-term. Carlos is convinced of this, but that does not mean that, on the other hand, progress can be made at a slow pace.
The team principal of the prestigious British team warned his new driver, implying that 2025 will be a transition year and that, in reality, the goal is to focus on the new regulatory framework to try to speed up the process. This doesn’t mean that the season, which will start in March in Australia, should be conducted in the same manner as the one that ended three weeks ago, but certainly, expectations cannot be set too high.
James Vowles explained that Carlos Sainz has been made aware of the need to understand that Williams is far behind Ferrari, McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and all the teams that have dominated until now. The gap will likely only be closed by leveraging a new regulatory framework, which work can begin on as of today, January 1.
What can make the difference, according to the former Mercedes executive, is the working environment that Carlos will find at Williams: a motivated group that can – and must – stimulate the driver. For his part, Carlos Sainz becomes an additional boost for a team hungry for success, eager to leave the lower positions in the standings, where it has unfortunately found itself in recent years, marked by financial, infrastructural, and technical difficulties.
James Vowles explained that Sainz saw potential in the English team, and that is what needs to be nurtured to get out of the quicksand. For Carlos, it will not be easy at all to go from a team like Ferrari, which started every year with the goal of winning, to one whose main target is to consistently reach Q3.
Carlos Sainz: new perspectives and the need to make an impact
A radical shift in perspective, but one that the Spaniard accepted, rejecting offers from Audi and Alpine. However, these groups did not spark the former Ferrari driver’s imagination, who believed in a project and embraced the company vision with conviction. However, he also protected himself with the presence, never confirmed but much discussed, of a release clause that could allow him, as early as 2026, to look around and join more established and ambitious teams in the very short term.
But this is not the spirit in which Sainz approaches his new adventure. No, Carlos wants to make an impact, intends to make a difference, and wants to continue doing what he has systematically done throughout his career: help the team he joins to progress. A dynamic we have discussed, and which Vowles and the other executives are well aware of, hoping it will also be repeated at Williams.
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