Carlos Sainz’s team for the 2025 season hasn’t been revealed yet. Although, the Spaniard insists that nothing has been signed yet, multiple sources including F1 photojournalist Kym Illman state that he is headed to Williams.
Williams, led by James Vowles, has lofty ambitions. Currently, they aren’t in the best possible place; a long way away from where Sainz is used to fighting on the grid with Ferrari. Still, they want the Madrid-born driver. Vowles wants to make them a team competing for wins at the front again and signing Sainz would be a statement.
Illman, on his YouTube channel, posted a video where he said that Sainz to Williams is ‘99%’ done. Only an official announcement regarding the same is pending.
Sainz would replace Logan Sargeant at the Grove-based outfit, something Illman feels is a “shame”. Sargeant is the only American driver on the grid. And Illman felt that having someone from the States would have been nice for F1’s growth.
At the same time, Sainz’s talent is too big to say no to, for a team like Williams. He will partner up with Thai-British driver Alex Albon, with whom he had a nervy incident at the recently concluded Canadian GP.
Carlos Sainz apologizes to ‘the team’ and Alex Albon
At the Canadian GP, Sainz (who is still driving for Ferrari) suffered a disasterclass. The Maranello-based outfit struggled for pace throughout the weekend and towards the end of the race on Sunday, Sainz crashed out.
However, it didn’t end only his race as Albon also got taken out. Sainz was quick to admit his mistake and in the aftermath, he apologized on social media. “Sorry to the team and to Albon,” said the 29-year-old. “We now need to understand what happened here and move on.”
LAP 54/70
What is going on?! Sainz has a moment and Albon ends up in the wall after being clobbered by the out-of-control Spaniard
⚠️ SAFETY CAR ⚠️#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/6l980vV4Hh
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 9, 2024
Both Ferrari drivers and Williams drivers DNFed in Montreal on Sunday, ending their forgettable weekend.
Sainz has been fighting towards the front of the grid with Ferrari for over three seasons now. As such, when he moves to Williams, he will be expecting a jump in performance on their part too. Otherwise, he will have to deal with struggling for the lower trenches of the points.
