Revealed: The data hints that explain why Carlos Sainz chose Williams over Alpine and Audi F1

Carlos Sainz will be an official Williams driver starting in 2025 and made his decision after months of uncertainty. But, why choose them?

With the financial investment of Dorilton Capital and the leadership of James Vowles, the Grove-based team is already taking small, steady steps towards its goal of returning to the top… but there is still a long way to go for them.

Carlos Sainz and Williams: A team on the up?

The team’s first step with Sainz will be the 2025 season. So far in 2024, Williams has failed to emerge as a consistent points contender. Moreover, with respect to 2023, the team is far from equalling or improving on P7 in the Constructors’ World Championship.

Despite this, and although the numbers don’t show it in the Championship, Williams has made significant progress in performance compared to 2023. The problem is that this year the competition has become tighter, with VCARB and Haas having found their way up as well.

But compared to Alpine and Kick Sauber, Williams has improved its qualifying lap times -0.983s on average. Alpine just -0.199s and Kick Sauber -0.660s.

As we can see here, Williams has made a significant step forward especially in those tracks that require a good aerodynamic and chassis setup, one of their main weaknesses in the last years. And as it has been proved, when the track conditions get difficult or there is rain, Alex Albon always finds something else to put the car in a good position.

With Aston Martin’s problems in bringing a successful upgrade package, the highs and lows on different circuits of other teams like Alpine, Haas and VCARB, Williams have proved to be at least consistent but not competitive enough.

And by understanding the strengths and weaknesses of their 2024 challenger, they can develop their 2025 car over the winter to fight for the points on a regular basis. But what are the strengths of Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant’s FW46?

Carlos Sainz has committed to Williams for 2025 and ‘beyond’

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The hidden strength of the Williams car

The main strength of the FW46 is its consistency. It’s not a great car in any aspect, but as other teams do, Williams is not swinging upwards and backwards on the grid.

Which in the short term might give other teams a clear advantage on the Championship but, in terms of development, this should play in favour of Williams for the remainder of 2024 if they can bring a decent upgrades package and, more importantly, having a good basis for next season’s car with two great drivers behind the wheel.

Apart from the Miami, Spanish and Hungarian GPs, Williams has been close to the fight for points, but not yet enough to be a contender. With four teams this season occupying the top eight spots, it’s even difficult for those more consolidated teams like Aston Martin with a good basis from 2023 to bring home some points.

On the other hand, the main weakness of this car is its tyre management. When there are hot temperatures on track, Williams suffers the most to keep up with the rest of the teams. It’s not a coincidence that this car performs better at tracks with low temperatures or rainy conditions.

The Williams family

Sainz has also chosen Williams because of its stability as a company.

Alpine has been in total disarray for a number of years now and although its car may offer better results in the short term, the project is faltering with the comings and goings of personnel and constant rumours from the paddock about the future of the team and engine manufacturing department.

And Sauber, the future Audi team, as well as having serious on-track performance issues with zero points in the championship, is also struggling to develop. Audi is working tirelessly to turn the situation around, but for a newborn team, more grassroots stability is needed to give a vote of confidence.

Of course, Sainz would have preferred a seat at Mercedes or Red Bull. But with that not being possible, the Spaniard will have to face, with as much dignity as possible, a step backwards in his sporting career – at least in the short term.

And Williams will welcome him with open arms to make sure the new adventure they are both embarking on mean progress for both of them.

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