Carlos Sainz sets clear target for Williams to consider extending F1 contract

Carlos Sainz accepts he won’t be fighting for race wins with Williams next season, but says top ten results are a must if they want to retain him beyond his initial two-year deal.

Although Sainz had been negotiating a contract extension with Ferrari for F1 2025, the Spaniard was left in the lurch when the Scuderia announced the surprise signing of Lewis Hamilton as Charles Leclerc’s next team-mate.

Carlos Sainz isn’t joining Williams just to make up the numbers

Initially linked to top seats at Red Bull and Mercedes, six months after that Hamilton announcement Sainz put pen to paper on a multi-year contract with Williams.

He accepts next season is going to be very different to his last four campaigns with Ferrari where he bagged 21 of his 23 podiums, including three race wins.

While this year Sainz has five podiums, one of which was courtesy of his Australian Grand Prix victory, and 190 points, Williams in its entirety has just 16 points and a best result of P7 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

The upside is that the team has managed four top ten results in the last seven races having started the season with not one in the first seven.

More on Carlos Sainz’s move to Williams in 2025

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“It’s something I’ll have to readapt to,” Sainz told Spanish daily AS. “But it’s a position I’ve been in for seven of my ten-year racing career, fighting for points and not winning.

“That’s the life of an F1 driver. You can ask so many other drivers who have been in that situation.

“Nothing guarantees you of fighting for wins, so you have to enjoy the opportunities. Not just as a result, to enjoy winning, but to enjoy it on a mental level because you are lucky to be one of the top 20 drivers in the world, and to be one of the three or four who can win a race.”

But that doesn’t mean he’s on the grid just to make up the numbers and be one of those lucky 20.

Sainz at least wants to see progress from Williams and top ten results, and if that happens he may even extend beyond 2026.

“My next step is Williams, and we have to try to do something at Williams similar to what I have done at Ferrari or McLaren,” he said.

“I want to help the team to go forward. I have the experience and good energy, being still young, to help them progress. I’ve been good at this in the past and that’s my next goal.

“If Williams is fighting for the top 10, we have to make sure we’re a consistent team in the points for the next two years that I’m going to be with them.

“If those years go well and I see that we’re going in the right direction, I’d like to be able to bet for them in the future as well.”

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