The Formula 1 driver market for 2025 has been relatively quiet so far, with contract expansion likely becoming a major focus after Max Burstappen commits in another year at Red Bull. On the other hand, last year was totally against it.
While major moves have always been possible, Lewis Hamilton’s surprise move towards Ferrari played a much-needed driver when many top teams were locking up the lineup or pinning them up with pencils. Therefore
There was an Audi project in 2026, but it carried many unknown projects, and Sauber was struggling very much at the time. Then there were alpine mountains that sometimes yielded great results, but at first glance they faced a seemingly endless, unstable cycle. So the choice that nodded from him last summer was Williams.
“My hope is that Williams will be a solid midfield car in ’25, allowing us to compete for points that are not on the backend of the grid,” Size tells the racers. “Somewhere around the top 10, I might still enjoy playing with the points. This may sound silly, but it’s still excellent and much more than fighting for a P16, P17.
“And the other hope was still TBC. This is ’26, ’27, ’28. Where can Williams go?
“Part of that was more than we knew it and it was achieved. It’s a midfield car that we’re very solid. The rest is the TBC of hope.
“The fear was on the back end of the grid and we were finding teams that weren’t really likely to be competition in the championship, but I have to say that part is covered as well.
Sainz feels he has adapted quickly to Williams’ FW47, but is surprised by the close margin between the midfielders. Sam Bloxham/Getty Images
If you’ve never known the overall trend of 2025 before, you can sit with Sainz and expect him to be extremely pleased with life. This year already has four top six finishes, and the team, who occasionally pinched the Big Four heels, sounds great on paper. However, Alex Albon scored 54 of Williams’ 70 points. Naturally, it brought an element of frustration to the early parts of the Spanish era with the team.
“I certainly don’t regret the move, and I’m actually quite encouraged by what I’ve seen,” he says. “2025 exceeds my expectations when it comes to car performance and what the team can do. So I’m very comfortable and calm with the decision. I’m frustrated that the outcome is not good because that feeling says the opposite, but for some reason, the outcome hasn’t come.
“I think I have that too, so I like to see the possibilities. I think it’s more of a concern that I don’t get the pace from Alex, who is three or four-quarters each weekend. – Sometimes it’s good, sometimes a little bad, but for example, there’s nothing close to the difference between the points and the outcomes that have won these 12 races.
“It feels a bit strange because I feel competitive. It feels faster. When I put together the raps for Williams, I still feel like there is a lot of lap time and potential. But I think I maximized the weekend in a year or two out of 12.
Albon may have had a large portion of Williams’ points up until now, but Sainz knows how close he is to the shape of his teammate. Clive Rose/Getty Images
The clear nuisance that hasn’t clicked out at all will bring us back to the size desire to have a strong mid-round car this year, even if he will always step down from the race-winning machine he previously had at Ferrari this year. He feels he has adapted quickly to his new car, but he admits that he underestimates how difficult it is to nail the weekend for a midfield team, given how close the performance is to this year.
In a slightly strange scenario, that’s not something Williams is overly worried about now. Team Principal James Bowles hopes the team looks long-term – Possible to sacrifice P5 in the Constructors Championship – A huge amount of signing experience has been actively called out to place the work to become a contender for future championships.
“This was mentioned quite a while ago before I arrived, before we spent the race weekend,” says Sainz. “We know the level of F1 teams that need to operate to become more competitive teams, like Ferrari, for example.
“I just brought some ideas, some ideas I like, and I can choose cherry from four or five teams I’ve done in Formula 1. And if I have to create a dream team, or with the dream way the team operates and the structures the team needs and how we communicate as a team, I feel these top level management. I’ll be the world champion in the future.” So let’s start with a driver coach in 25 years. I don’t think I’ll have time to mention it here along with many other things. ”
The driver coach is a new physical addition to Williams’ setup, but Sainz’s feedback has also been extended to changing existing ways of working, with both of last year’s top two constructor McLaren being rebuilt when Ferrari was operating during the reconstruction phase that existed before 2021.
“From the start, I tried to make sure I was more trained and especially with correlations so I could learn for the future,” he says. “I was at the top of the team with that. I was able to pull out a list of things I didn’t want to talk about. The team has made a lot of progress on a lot of things, but there’s still a lot we need to work on.”
Sainz’s input is mixed with pride, and Williams is not only in his already performing level, but also in the hopes of improving both on and off as soon as possible. However, the four-time Grand Prix winners still have the big picture in mind when they look back at how 2025 has disappeared.
“The trajectory is more or less set in the places I was expecting. “If I had said I would be faster than a Mercedes or Ferrari last year in qualifying sessions like Miami and Imola, I wouldn’t believe it.
“We’re sometimes faster when we’re wrong. We have good qualities that look like the top midfield, and sometimes we knock on the doors of the top four cars, but we still feel like we’re still at the first 25% of the curve and the first 25% of the trajectory curve.
Although he is always looking ahead, Sainz can look back at this point, pleased with the decision he made in the summer of 2024.