Vowles reveals ‘honest’ Sainz talks as Williams future questions emerge

James Vowles has said he’s been very honest with Carlos Sainz about what went wrong in Williams’ pre-season after the Spaniard declared his “priority” is to remain with the team next season.

Sainz joined Williams last year, and together with Alex Albon, elevated Williams to fifth in the Constructors’ Championship in the team’s best result since 2017’s fifth-place finish.

James Vowles addresses Carlos Sainz Williams future

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This season, though, has not gone according to plan.

Williams missed the opening pre-season test in Barcelona due to chassis issues while the team dealt with an overweight FW48.

That meant the team’s priority with its early updates was reducing the weight of the car, before the engineers could begin improving the performance.

This raised questions about Sainz’s future as the four-time Grand Prix winner reportedly has an exit clause that would allow him to leave the team two years into his three-year deal.

Vowles, though, believes the former Ferrari driver is committed to the Williams project.

Asked by Sky Sports F1 in Monaco what reassurances he had given Sainz that Williams is the right team for him going forward, the team principal replied: “It’s a good question.

“First of all, his honour, the way he works, his honesty, his values are very similar to mine. So we have really honest conversations all the way through.

“He’s here to commit to this as a project to win a world championship.

“What I’ve shown him is what’s happened this winter, why we’re confident it will never happen again, and that’s for both being delayed with a car, but also however it ended up being.

“In addition to that, what we’ve been going through, what are we doing in changes in the team, some of them are announced, some of them aren’t announced yet, and it’s a good amount of changes.

“I agree with him, this could have been the best thing that happened to us this winter, because we need to expose everything, and we are making the level of change required to move forward.

“What he’s looking for is what I’ve just spoken to you about. Have we from Japan to Miami to Montreal, are we making our way up the grid? And the answer is yes, and are we doing it at the rate he’s happy with.”

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Carlos Sainz confirms Williams ‘priority’

Sainz was asked about his future when he spoke with the media, including PlanetF1.com, in the build-up to the Monte Carlo street race.

But while he said Williams is his “priority”, he concedes he needs to give his future some thought.

“Obviously very happy to hear from James,” Sainz said. “I think we’ve made it mutual across one another that the ideal scenario and the ideal path moving forward for me has ​always been Williams and has always been seeing the progress of this team and continuing to help this team become a competitive team.

“That’s what I would love the most and ‌very happy to see that ⁠my boss still wants ​me.

“I know I obviously need to take a decision this year ‌about my future, but at the ‌same time, I made it ⁠very clear to Williams and to my management team that my priority is to ⁠make this project work.

“When I did the commitment a couple of years ago to come here, it was with the commitment of trying to make this work and I wish we can do that.

“Obviously this year we’ve hit a bit of a big bump that we didn’t expect and now all my attention and focus is ​to try and get this team out of the bump as soon as possible.”

“I’m committed to try and help the team get out of this bump and do the best we can to recover,” Sainz added. “I just ‌want to be winning ​in F1, that’s my main message to my management and at the same time help Williams get back to the top.”

Sainz has scored six of Williams’ seven points, with the team eighth in the Constructors’ Championship after five race weekends.

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

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