Team Principal James Vowles describes the moment when the Williams staff learned that Carlos Sainz had signed a contract for 2025
When Carlos Sainz’s face suddenly appears, the enthusiasm of the Williams staff knows no bounds. This is how Williams team boss James Vowles describes the moment when the staff found out about the Spanish Formula 1 driver’s impending move
“We played a video to the staff. In it, Carlos shares the news. But for the first 45 seconds, you couldn’t understand a word of the cheering, shouting and applause,” says Vowles.
“That reaction tells me everything I need to know: The team believes in this decision as much as I do. And in purely emotional terms, the whole effort has paid off in just one second. Because it means a lot to me and the team. “
Williams insisted on a long contract term
For Williams, the signing of Sainz is a “really important milestone for the future”, as Vowles puts it. “But now we have to prove to Carlos, the team and the world that we are on the right track.”
The collaboration with the three-time Grand Prix winner is explicitly set up for the long term: Sainz will enter the new regulations era from 2026 on a two-year contract plus options with Williams. And he made that a prerequisite in the negotiations, says Vowles.
“I told him: ‘If you only come for the money or for a short time, then it doesn’t work for either side. We have a serious mission ahead of us.” It will be “difficult”, Vowles admits, but if successful it will also be “incredibly rewarding” for those involved.
What Sainz saw at Williams
But Williams team boss Vowles can already feel like a winner. Because with his offer to Sainz, he has beaten the Formula 1 works teams
ICYMI: Listen in to what Carlos had to say on his move to Williams
@Carlossainz55 pic.twitter.com/OicxPXMtcs
– Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) July 30, 2024
Sainz himself referred to his “incredible” alternatives during the negotiations with Williams, says Vowles: “Audi is one of the biggest manufacturers in the world, and his father has already won with them. You don’t just turn that down. And there was [Alpine], which won a shorter time ago than we did. You can’t ignore that.”
“But Carlos didn’t see in us where we are today, but where the journey is going.”
This is how Sainz himself described it: He wanted to “write history again” for and with Williams. “The big goal is to get Williams back where it belongs: at the front of the grid. And I am approaching this task with excitement and positivity.” Just like the entire Williams workforce, it seems.
