Vowles confident Sainz will sign with Williams

Williams team principal James Vowles has said he remains confident he can secure Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz on a contract for next season.

Sainz will leave Ferrari at the end of the year to make way for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton and has been in talks with Williams, Alpine and Sauber about long-term deals starting in 2025.

Seats at Red Bull and Mercedes also remain open, further complicating Sainz’s decision ahead of F1’s summer break.

Vowles has made no secret of his desire to pair Sainz with Alex Albon on a long-term deal, and he remains confident he can convince the Spaniard to sign.

“I want excellence and race-winning performance within the team,” he said on Sunday at the Belgian Grand Prix. “I want individuals who are leaders, in other words they are established and on their way here.

“Out of all those [options available to Williams], and I’ve said it from the start and I’ll maintain it here, is Carlos. He’s not listening to this, but he, in adversity, won a race last year [at the Singapore Grand Prix] and did it in an intelligent way against some of the best individuals, that includes Lando [Norris] and Charles [Leclerc] — he beats them in that circumstance.

“He brings excellence along with him. I’ve said it once and I will keep saying it: that is where my heart is set and we will see if our journeys collide.”

Asked how confident he was of getting the deal done, Vowles said: “More than 50%, how’s that?

“How confident am I? I think the odds are in our favour but I’ve been stung by this already once this year, so let’s see. I think the odds are in our favour.”

Vowles said he understood why Sainz had taken his time coming to a decision and how difficult it would be for him to turn down an offer from Audi, which is in the process of taking over the Sauber F1 team ahead of its full arrival in F1 in 2026.

“It’s interesting, conversations he and I have had pretty late into a few nights,” Vowles added. “We presented from both sides.

“My perspective is this, I know I wear a Williams shirt, but I believe so much in what I’m doing, that’s why I left Mercedes to come here. That’s why I’m talking to you with all the amount of passion I have.

“I believe in everything we’re doing here. And I’m in it day to day, and I can see the changes day to day. If I gave you a handful of individuals from our team and said talk to them about how it was 12 months ago, talk to them about how it is today and how it’s going to be in 12 months, the positive stories will just flow out. That’s why I’m positive towards it.

“With Carlos, he can’t see much of that. What he looks at is what you can see externally. Where are you, where do you qualify, why did you have a bad race here, what’s going on here.

“He has one of the largest OEMs in the world [Audi] chasing him. That’s hard to turn down. An OEM that his father has won with at the same time.

“He has a team that, let’s be clear about it, historically beaten us fundamentally [Alpine]. And again, that becomes hard to turn down.

“But I can see that perspective on things. Here’s what he told me, which actually resonated the most: ‘The reason why I’m doing this is when I commit, I need to commit with all my heart and all my soul, 100%. And to be able to do that means I can’t have any doubts.’

“And that’s why it has taken the time. And that resonated with me.”