Carlos Sainz said he will discuss his future with boss James Vowles over the summer as he mulls a Williams exit. He chose to join the team after receiving multiple offers from rivals in 2024 and reaped the rewards last year as Williams were best of the rest in the midfield fight, and he was able to achieve two podium finishes in the second half of the season.
But the project has been derailed this year with Williams adapting poorly to the new regulations. They missed the first week of shakedown testing in Barcelona because their car was not ready and, when it did eventually hit the track, it had a myriad of problems including the fact it was significantly overweight.
Team principal Vowles remained optimistic and said early in the season that his team had the answers, even if they could change everything overnight. But their development has not delivered the sort of progress that they had hoped and a big upcoming package scheduled for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix is no longer expected to yield the improvements that they had originally hoped.
Instead of contending in the midfield, Williams have fallen towards the back of the grid and finished the first half of the campaign on an unwanted streak of five scoreless race weekends in a row. And the situation has Sainz reconsidering his future.
Telling reporters he “honestly doesn’t know” what his future holds, he said: “I cannot give you a date, but I imagine, as I always said, that I was going to wait until the summer to sit down with my team and think about this. [I will] discuss with them, with James and everyone, the future of the team and my future in it.”
Whether or not he pens a new deal with Williams may largely depend on what other opportunities he has. Sainz has long been linked with a move to Audi, given his rally champion father’s long-time affiliation with the brand, but they insist they are happy with their current pairing of veteran Nico Hulkenberg and starlet Gabriel Bortoleto.
Alpine, who almost turned Sainz’s head two years ago with a last minute offer which delayed his decision to join Williams, could try to sign the Spaniard for a second time. Pierre Gasly is locked into a long-term deal but Franco Colapinto has yet to secure his place for 2027 and Flavio Briatore may yet move for a more proven option.
But the key factor may yet be what Fernando Alonso chooses to do. He is considering Formula 1 retirement this summer and, if he does vacate his Aston Martin seat, Sainz is understood to be towards the top of the team’s list of potential replacements. Alonso said he plans to decide his future this summer, and so Sainz will likely not have to wait long before learning whether it might be an option for him.