Next year, Carlos Sainz will discover Williams F1 and return to the second part of the peloton. A change after four years at Ferrari, but his future director in the English team is not worried about the Spanish driver’s ability to adapt.
“No, not for a second” James Vowles told the Beyond The Grid podcast. “I had this concern and at one of our dinners we talked, and he answered that question very well.”
“He told me the second I sign, I’m giving you 100 percent of everything, but what I’m doing is making sure I’m ready to give 100 percent to this organization. That’s the reason the signing was delayed so he will give everything to this team to succeed and Ferrari is part of his story that has brought him this far.
The British is aiming for victory in the long term, but he knows that it won’t happen anytime soon: “The realistic timeline that I’ve given everyone is that we should be able to win races in 2027, 2028. It’s hard to pin that down, because I want to see the infrastructure come together first , but this is the deadline we are aiming for.”
To achieve this success, Vowles is also counting on the Mercedes engine which will be placed at the rear of future Williams: “I think Mercedes did an exceptional job, which is why I was very happy to re-sign for an extension.”
“And I think you’re going to see differences between power units that don’t exist today. Today, almost all powertrains are very close to each other. I think that will change in 2026 and that you will see a difference between the power units.”
Vowles, however, assures that the Mercedes engine will not dominate as in 2014: “Mercedes’ advantage in 2026 will not reach the levels seen in 2014, where the advantage was complete in the field. But I can see tangible performance differences, especially in the 2026 car.”
Jacques Villeneuve is convinced that Sainz made the right choice in joining Williams, and believes that his other options would not have worked out: “Carlos is fast, he has a lot of experience and he knows how to work with a team. He is intelligent.”
“He will be a very good signing for Williams, who really needed him. It’s a very good decision on the part of James Vowles. It will also be a good thing for Sainz. His other options were not worth it. Alpine chooses anything and Audi probably would never have taken it in anything special.”
