James Vowles says Carlos Sainz choosing to join Williams over Audi and Alpine is a “monumental” outcome for his team.
Sainz’s future was the center of speculation throughout 2024 prior to the summer break, with the Spaniard set to be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari and not receiving firm offers from Mercedes or Red Bull. While he was heavily linked with the Audi project early on, and had serious interest from Alpine, in the end it was Williams that secured his signature on a multi-year contract.
“I think it’s a huge, huge event for Williams to have two of the best drivers of the world fighting at the front,” team principal Vowles said. “I think it’s very much a sign of things to come the fact that we are prepared to have the investment required to be there. And a lot of it you can’t see; the one you can materially see is what we’re doing by effectively putting money where it should be into the best drivers that are available to us. In terms of beating an OEM, and one of the largest in the world, I am incredibly proud. I said this to Carlos anyway — it’s one of the proudest moments of my career and I’ve had lots of great moments in my career. The fact that he chose us above all else is a huge, huge, monumental decision.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=1388]
Vowles says it’s not just the relative struggles of the other teams that played a role in Sainz’s decision, but the longer-term picture of what Williams is building and where it is likely to be in the future.
“We have to be straightforward — Alpine are ahead of us on points this year, they were ahead of us on points last year as well. I recognize all of that,” Vowles said. “What he’s buying into is what can we provide over the next two years and what’s the direction of travel?
“Look at us this year — we’re back in ninth. Is that where we should be? Not if the car was on the weight limit, but that’s on our shoulders. No one else caused that but ourselves as we changed technologies.
“However, the bit that I am excited by is we are pretty consistently 10th from ’21, ’22, and in ’23, do I think we should have been seventh? I think we got fortunate because AlphaTauri were very quick towards the end and it was a matter of a strategic decision that really decided whether we were eighth or seventh, and we had huge tumbles of points but at very few events.
“What I want to produce is a car that is good everywhere with the right foundations behind it, and as I’ve said that will cost us in the short term but pay back in the long term — that’s the direction of travel we’re in.
“It’s monumental to beat these two organizations, because they are both incredible organizations in their own right. We can’t underestimate them. The moment we do is the moment you lose to them in the championship. But what Carlos recognized from us — and much of it you won’t see, and will never see, I’m afraid, but I did expose it to him — is what we’re changing on the inside, and that’s what’s exciting.”