Sainz to Red Bull? ‘Maybe even worse than Williams’ says Patrese

Carlos Sainz has been warned that a move from Williams to Red Bull, should Max Verstappen quit F1, could “be maybe even worse” than the position he’s in now.

Williams has struggled at the start of Formula 1’s new technical era, securing just one top-ten showing in three grands prix as the team battles to bring down the weight of its FW48 and improve the car’s downforce.

Carlos Sainz Red Bull move warning amid Williams struggles

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Sainz joined Williams in 2025 when he signed with the Grove-based team after being dropped by Ferrari in favour of signing Lewis Hamilton.

It was Williams’ second-best campaign since 2017 as the team finished fifth in the Constructors’ Championship on 137 points, one shy of 2017’s tally.

But despite Formula 1 embracing a new technical era and a reset for all the teams, and powered by the Mercedes engine that was tipped to be the pick of the five power units, Williams failed to kick on.

Sainz has scored the team’s only points of the campaign with a P9 at the Chinese Grand Prix, a race that saw four non-starters – including his teammate Alex Albon, and a further three in-race retirements.

Sainz has admitted that his team’s drop in competitiveness has been a “shock”.

“For sure, it’s been a shock for me, for the team, for James [Vowles], for Alex, for all the engineers,” Sainz said in Japan. “I think it’s no secret that it’s been tough, and I could already smell it coming in December, January.

“I started bracing for the bump, because we already started having these conversations of delays; not arriving at that first test, starting here in the overweight numbers.

“I said it doesn’t look very promising to start, but, for me, like I said from the beginning of the bump, I knew at some point Williams was going to hit a bump.

“Not all the roads to success are linear. There was always going to be a bump. This bump is big, probably even bigger than what I expected.”

But is it a big enough bump that it could dislodge Sainz from the Williams race-seat?

Go deeper: Carlos Sainz’s Williams issues and his F1 2027 options

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Former F1 driver Patrese reckons probably not as what other options does the Spaniard have.

None of this season’s current top three – Mercedes, Ferrari or McLaren – is an option for F1 2027 as they have their drivers locked in bar a shock departure.

Red Bull, who Sainz was linked to in 2024 amidst speculation of a reunion with Max Verstappen before Helmut Marko scuppered that, could be an option amidst speculation Verstappen could quit but even Patrese questions whether the former world champions could be “worse” than Williams.

“At the end of last year, he was brilliant. He brought Williams to a level where they had not been for many years,” the Italian told a betting website.”Now he might be unhappy and think the car and the team are not in a good place.

“But if he wants to leave, where does he go?

“It’s difficult to think he could go back to Ferrari, it’s difficult for him to get a place in McLaren because they have two good drivers, Mercedes is a non-starter.

“So, to leave a team like Williams would not make sense.

“He maybe could go to Red Bull, but they’re losing all the key people, at the end they are going to be maybe even worse than Williams.

“It is not an easy position for him at the moment.

“But I think Williams last year proved they are really improving. They have a good engine because it’s a Mercedes engine.

“They were late because they couldn’t do the test in Barcelona but we will see at the end of this month whether after the enforced break they can come out with a better car.”

Quizzed on whether he believes his former team Williams can improve, Patrese replied: “I hope, also because being a Williams driver, the team means a lot to me. In my heart Williams is always an important team.”

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