Vowles: With Sainz’s arrival we will reach a new level

Williams Racing principal James Vowles joined the F1 Nation podcast on the championship’s official website to discuss how negotiations with Carlos Sainz went and why it was so important for him to sign a contract with the Spanish driver.

James Vowles: “When I announced Carlos’ signing for Williams, the team responded very strongly and this is perhaps one of the best ways to explain why it was so important to us.

We haven’t shared the video of this episode on social networks yet, but we will soon – the Netflix film crew was there too. I have experienced the joy of winning races and championships, but I can say that in all the years of my career in Formula 1 I have never seen such an enthusiastic reaction.

When Carlos appeared on the screen with his video message, which lasted only one and a half minutes, the first minute was literally drowned out by the general noise and only a few people heard it. And then I realized what the Sainz contract meant to all 600 or 700 people who were present at this event.

For them it was a very important statement of our intentions – now no one doubts that we are making the right investment by signing a contract with one of the best drivers in the championship. But there is another point, and for me it is even more important: Carlos is a very fast racer, literally programmed to achieve results.

Judging from the fact that he was interested in thousands of different details during the negotiation process, it is very important for him that everything is at the right level so that he can show the best possible results. He wants the team to develop and get better. Everyone at Williams believes that with his arrival we can reach a new level.

The negotiations with Carlos lasted several months – I didn’t spend that much time on anyone else. Although that doesn’t mean I didn’t negotiate with other riders. I did at various times, but it’s important to stress that these were all of a much less serious nature compared to the discussions with Sainz and his entourage.

I noticed Carlos long before his win last year in Singapore and I think he is doing better and better every year. You can remember his past: at McLaren he was ahead of Lando Norris, at Ferrari he was ahead of Charles Leclerc more than once, in his time at Toro Rosso he was ahead of Max Verstappen sometimes. Even then I was impressed by the way he behaved.

We can say that the negotiation process started with us having a coffee in Abu Dhabi last year and then exchanging text messages, but more serious discussions began when it became known about the upcoming transfer of Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari. Every month the nature of the negotiations became more and more intense. It was important for me to get to know him better, to understand what motivates him and what he wants to achieve. It turned out that we are very similar: this is exactly the kind of driver that the team I lead needs.

I explained to him what changes are happening in the team, what exactly we are changing, why we are doing it, why all this takes time, why our results in 2024 are not impressive. By the way, in 2025 they will not be the highest either – this moment was one of the most difficult for him, because next season he does not want to fall behind. But the most important thing is that Carlos is excited about 2026 and will play a key role in achieving our goals.”