F1
At peace with his choice to join Williams, Sainz “still can’t understand” the 2025 transfer window
© Eric Alonso / DPPI
The Ferrari chapter comes to an end for Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard will experience his last three Grands Prix with the Prancing Horse, three years after joining the Italian team. Since February 1st and the incredible announcement of the arrival of Lewis Hamilton à Maranello, the four-time Grand Prix winner has had time to come to terms with his departure and prepare for the future. A future that will be written with Williams from 2025.
For months, the future team of the Madrilenian remained a mystery. Coveted by many teams, Carlos Sainz was for a long time the sticking point of the 2025 transfer window, since his fate was indirectly linked to several other drivers in the teams that wanted to hire him for next season. Finally, The Iberian's choice fell on Williams at the end of July, after long weeks of uncertainty and negotiation. A wait that can be explained by the lack of opportunity among the Top Teams…
The ignorance of Mercedes and Red Bull "hurt" to Sainz
If rumors linked Carlos Sainz to Mercedes ou Red Bull At the start of the season, the doors quickly closed on both teams, leaving the Spaniard with a choice between teams at the bottom of the table. Inevitably, for someone who won two Grands Prix in 2024, the situation was not the most pleasant, but the current Ferrari driver managed to overcome this disappointment.
"I'm at peace and I really believe that if I don't go [to a Top Team], it's because life doesn't want me to go. There's something else that comes after that will actually turn out to be good, he confided from Sky Sports F1. It hurt me at the time. We all have egos… I have a driver’s ego and I couldn’t understand it at the time. Personally, I still can’t understand some of the choices people made.”
“At the same time, it challenges me even more and makes me even more excited for Williams., he adds. It was Williams who invested in me, who supported me from the beginning, who came to see me a year ago. In fact, I am very enthusiastic. I said to myself: 'I want to give these people what they gave me', to give them back that trust and that faith in me. It gives me strength. I can't wait to go there and build something good with them."
Sainz looking forward to working with Albon
Carlos Sainz to start Williams challenge even before 2025 since he will join the British team for the post-season tests in Abu Dhabi, the day after the last Grand Prix. A new chapter that he will write alongsideAlexander albon to lead Williams to the top of the table in 2026. A collaboration that the Spaniard is impatiently awaiting, he who wants to bring all his experience to Grove to advance his future team.
“I had a very good experience at McLaren, with a very good camaraderie with Lando [Norris]. There was no number one, I was maybe the experienced [driver] and he was the rookie, but we both pushed each other hard. It's a bit the same with Charles here [at Ferrari], even though Charles was always seen as the future of the project, underlines the Madrilenian. But I always like to have strong teammates. I think Alex will be a great teammate to work with next year, and I think with my experience at Ferrari I can probably help Williams become a better team."
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Dorian Grangier
A young journalist nostalgic for the motorsport of yesteryear. Raised on the exploits of Sébastien Loeb and Fernando Alonso.
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Yves-Henri RANDIER
20/11/2024 at 06:06 a.m.
Toto sought to recover, at the request of the Mercedes Board, a multi-world champion after the departure of Sir Gold Lives Matter (therefore targeted Verstappen without success) and the rivalry or even the antagonism of the beginnings of Verstappen and Sainz Jr left too many traces in the Red Bull galaxy according to the - for once common! - words of Horner and Helmoooooout. So bad alignment of planets for the Smooth Operator forced to fall back to the midfield after an Audi project that leaves a little skeptical and a proposal from the King of Cheaters Il Magnifico Flavio of which the Sainz clan was wary
vincent moyet
20/11/2024 at 10:49 a.m.
That's true, but Reutemann and Mansell left on their own. The fact remains that Sainz has not interested RBR or Mercedes and his chances of winning in the medium term are slim, if not non-existent.
ardent
19/11/2024 at 09:46 a.m.
The list of drivers who bounced back after leaving Ferrari is longer than that: Reutemann who almost became champion, Mansell who actually was, and to a lesser extent Regazzoni, Berger or Barrichello who continued to win.
vincent moyet
19/11/2024 at 09:00 a.m.
To bounce back in a top team after being ousted from Ferrari, you have to be called Prost or Lauda... But I don't think Ferrari made the right decision. Leclerc and Sainz formed a good team, complementary, with Leclerc a notch above in performance and therefore a natural leader, but Sainz capable of winning when Leclerc is not able. This balance risks being broken with Hamilton.