The one Carlos Sainz contract clause that would be a ‘surprise’ to see

Like Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost, Damon Hill cannot see Carlos Sainz demanding number one status over Alex Albon when he signed for Williams.

After six months of speculation and intense contract negotiations, Sainz and Williams announced last week that the Spaniard would join Albon at the team next season.

Does Carlos Sainz’s contract have a No.1 status clause?

Sainz has signed a multi-year deal for 2025 and “beyond”, but it’s been the rumoured clauses in that contract that have created the headlines.

It has been suggested there’s an exit clause should either Red Bull or Mercedes come knocking, one that could even kick in before Sainz turns a single lap in a Williams F1 car.

Williams team principal James Vowles has denied, telling select media including PlanetF1.com: “There are precisely ten people in the world who know the exact contents of the contract. Carlos’ team and I know what it contains.

“Everything you’ve read on the internet is speculation, and that’s it. There are only a handful of people in the world who know what we’re talking about. And that doesn’t even include the team members. And it certainly isn’t the journalists outside this motorhome.”

But one clause that Hill is convinced won’t be in his contract is a demand for number one status.

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“They’ve obviously must have taken a big financial investment to get him. But I don’t think he’ll come into the team presuming or wanting to be treated as a number one,” the 1996 World Champion told the F1 Nation podcast.

“I don’t see that as part of his personality.

“I think he’ll want fair and equal, nothing less than whatever the other bloke’s getting, but I doubt whether he’ll want to have superiority over Alex. I don’t think that would sit well with him. I’d be surprised if that’s in the contract.

“I mean, for example, Ayrton Senna, and Prost. They only ever only ever said in their contract that they’ll get not less than equal equipment to their team-mate.”

Carlos Sainz has ‘got gravitas’, says Damon Hill

Sainz’s decision to choose Williams over the likes of Audi may have raised a few eyebrows on some pundits given the team has scored just four points all season.

However, Vowles has revealed he gave the 29-year-old access to Williams’ data so that he could see where they would’ve been in Grands Prix were it not for their overweight car.

Hill believes Sainz and Albon will be a strong line-up for Williams as the team looks to return to its glory days.

“The dynamic, how it would work with Alex. That is also really important, putting two people together who work together in a team like Williams at the stage they are now, you need those guys to work together,” he said.

“I think they are a perfect combination. I can see these two, they’re both pretty grown-up individuals and competitive and hard workers. I think they’ll complement each other brilliantly.”

“He’s got gravitas, Carlos,” Hill added. “And I think that’s what people sense about him. He’s a hard worker, as well. I know him and his dad quite well and they are serious people. They’re not people who take Formula One as a kind of a jolly. Carlos works at it and he delivers.

“I’m looking at an Instagram post from F1, it’s called average finishing positions and I presume it’s from the beginning of this season, the average finishing position this season, Verstappen is 2.4. So finishing second and a half. And then right behind him is Carlos Sainz.

“So Carlos usually gets the most he can out of a weekend. So no doubt that James will have got all the data on Carlos, his performances and that.”

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