Carlos Sainz submits new request as Audi F1 rumours enter overdrive

Williams driver Carlos Sainz has revealed that he has asked his management team to keep him out of driver market-related matters ahead of a decision on his future during the F1 2026 summer break. 

It comes after PlanetF1.com revealed at the recent Barcelona Grand Prix that Sainz has identified the Audi F1 team as a potential destination for the F1 2027 season.

Carlos Sainz linked with Audi F1 switch for F1 2027 season

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Sainz joined Williams from Ferrari at the end of the 2024 season, having been forced to make way at Maranello for seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

After a slow start to his first year with the team, Sainz ended 2025 with two podium finishes to secure fifth place in the constructors’ championship, Williams’ best result since 2017.

Williams had been expected to make a significant step forward under the new rules for F1 2026, but the team has been limited to just 11 points to date.

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PlanetF1.com revealed ahead of Sainz’s home race in Spain earlier this month that the 31-year-old has been left questioning his future at Williams in light of the team’s challenging start to F1 2026.

Multiple sources have indicated that Sainz is eyeing a potential move to the Audi F1 team, which he rejected to join Williams two years ago.

Audi F1 is led by Mattia Binotto, who previously acted as Sainz’s team principal at Ferrari in 2021/22, with the pair known to enjoy a healthy relationship.

Binotto was appointed by Audi in August 2024, three days after Sainz’s move to Williams was made official.

Audi’s current drivers, Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, are thought to be on long-term deals with the team, theoretically complicating Sainz’s situation should he decide on a move away from Williams for 2027.

PlanetF1.com understands that Sergio Perez, the Cadillac driver, could emerge as a contender to replace Sainz at Williams for next season.

Speaking to PlanetF1.com and other media outlets ahead of this weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix, Sainz revealed that he has asked his personal team to keep him away from transfer matters until next month’s summer break as he focuses on improving Williams’ fortunes.

Asked if he is eyeballing his next opportunity in the paddock, Sainz said: “Not really. I’m not.

“Seriously, I’m not, because I have so much work to do here in Williams right now over the next few races and the amount of simulator sessions we’re doing, the amount of meetings that are being held over the last few months.

“I’ve also told my team to leave me a bit on my own until the summer break, just to try and help Williams and improve the situation as much as possible.

“And then in the summer break, it will obviously be the time to think about it, look at the options.

“I think the team by now knows what my intentions and my priorities are, which would be to continue in this team, in this project.

“I believe in the long-term part of the project and the long-term vision and right now we have, as I said, a lot of work to do, 100 per cent.”

Asked what options might be available to him if he opts to leave Williams, he replied: “I haven’t asked because, as I told my management, I want to try and have as little noise as possible in my head.

“Seeing the options, I’m pretty sure there will be obviously conversations and information being held and talk around the paddock, like always at this stage of the year.

“But on my side, I’ve told them that I prefer to stay a bit away from it until the summer break and help the team and help everything move forward as fast as possible, because my ideal plan and my order of priorities is to stay and to continue in the long term.”

Asked what he needs to see from Williams to convince him to stay, and whether what he sees behind the scenes gives him hope that 2026 will prove to be a blip, Sainz added: “Exactly – all of these things that you’ve mentioned.

“That’s why all these meetings are being held and I’m trying to go deep into the root of the causes together with JV [James Vowles, team principal], all the management and everyone involved to see where things started to go wrong.

“I think we’ve analysed and concluded that. But not only that, it’s what do we do moving forward.

“How quick are those changes going to start paying off and how diligent and how aggressive we are, obviously, in the recovery from the bump and analysing all that, trying to help as much as I can with my judgement, my experience to see what side and which area we need to attack more aggressively.

“In the end, it’s so much information going on that it really leaves very little opportunity or very little brain space and time to think about any other thing.”

Additional reporting by Mat Coch and Thomas Maher

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