‘Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable?’ – Vowles surprised Mercedes and Red Bull didn’t push to sign Sainz

James Vowles has admitted that he expected more competition from teams further up the field when signing Carlos Sainz for 2025 and beyond, as he believes the Spaniard to be one of the best racers on the grid.

After being ousted by Ferrari in favour of Lewis Hamilton, months of speculation and negotiations behind closed doors resulted in Sainz committing to a multi-year deal with Williams from next season.

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With plenty of reports linking the Spaniard to the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes and Alpine, Sainz's decision on his future was a key piece in the driver market puzzle for 2025, with competitors describing him as the ‘cork in the bottle’.

However, on the first day of the summer break, it was confirmed he would be driving for the Grove outfit with Vowles delighted to seal the deal for a driver he has long admired.

Expressing his surprise that the more competitive teams didn’t try harder to make a deal with Sainz, Vowles said: “I rate him as one of the top four drivers, if not at times the number two driver on the grid. Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable?

“When you’re in Red Bull’s position, where you’ve got a constructors’ championship at risk, it’s always a hard decision but, yes, I would have Carlos alongside Max. If you’re in Mercedes, it’s a hard choice. They’ve swayed between not being competitive – in which case it makes sense to invest in the future – to being very competitive. Now it’s a harder decision as to whether you invest in known entities or unknown.

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“They’ve made their decisions sensibly and if Red Bull decided to do similar, again there’s reasons behind it that I won’t be aware of because they’re multiple world champions and don’t make decisions lightly. But I was surprised.”

Williams have struggled over the last few seasons with their best recent finish in the constructors’ championship coming in 2023, when they achieved 28 points and narrowly took seventh-place ahead of then-named AlphaTauri.

However, the former Mercedes Motorsport Strategy Director believes that coming to a deal with Sainz is a strong indication of the team’s brighter future, as he is set to partner historically reliable points-scorer Alex Albon.

“I think it’s a huge, huge event for Williams to have two of the best drivers in the world fighting at the front,” Vowles explained. “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.

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“A lot of it, you can’t see. What 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 [Original Equipment Manufacturer], one of the largest in the world, I’m incredibly proud. I said this to Carlos anyway – it was one of the proudest moments of my career, and I’ve had lots of great moments of my career. The fact he chose us above all else is a monumental decision.”