Carlos Sainz could use a seat at Williams as a stepping stone to his “big goal” of returning to Red Bull for the 2026 F1 season, with the departing Ferrari star said to be “close to a decision” over his future.
Sainz is left without a seat for the 2025 F1 season, knowing seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will take his place over the winter.
Carlos Sainz to join Williams with Red Bull in mind?
The Spaniard responded to the news with his best ever start to the 2024 F1 season, winning the Australian Grand Prix, just two weeks after missing the previous race in Saudi Arabia with appendicitis.
Sainz was enjoying the best results of his career and had attracted the attention of Red Bull and Mercedes, but the events of recent weeks have narrowed his F1 options for 2025.
PlanetF1.com revealed ahead of last weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix that Mercedes is not currently considering Sainz as a replacement for Hamilton, with the team willing to take its time in identifying a new recruit.
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Behind-the-scenes drama at Red Bull has raised the remote possibility that Verstappen could leave the team despite being under contract until the end of the 2028 F1 season, and Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff has made no secret of his desire to sign the 26-year-old in recent months.
If Verstappen proves unable to compete in F1 in 2025, Mercedes is thought to be likely to promote the team’s 17-year-old junior sensation Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who currently competes in F2, as George Russell’s team-mate.
PlanetF1.com revealed during last month’s Miami Grand Prix that the FIA had received a special permission request to allow Antonelli to race in F1 before his 18th birthday, the minimum age for drivers to be eligible for a super licence, amid rumours that Antonelli could race for Mercedes client Williams before the end of the season.
With Sergio Perez looking increasingly likely to sign a new contract with Red Bull, Sainz’s options are said to be between Audi and Williams, with Audi taking over the existing Sauber team in F1 in 2026 and widely reported to have offered the 29-year-old Sainz a lucrative long-term contract.
Despite the team’s low position in the constructors’ standings (eighth with two points from the first eight races of F1 2024), Italian publication La Gazzetta dello Sport argue that a move to Williams would give Sainz vital flexibility to keep his options open for F1 2026.
Sainz is said to be open to signing a one-year deal with the option of a further year, which would allow him to explore the market and pursue his ultimate goal of a Red Bull seat.
With new engine and chassis regulations coming into force in F1 in 2026, Verstappen could decide the end of next season would be a more suitable time to leave Red Bull and move to Mercedes, who are widely considered to be well prepared for the new rules.
With Perez’s future likely to come under scrutiny again in 12 months’ time, Red Bull may need to find two new drivers for F1’s new era.
If Sainz is unable to secure a seat at Red Bull, a long-term stay at Williams could seriously emerge, while a link with Mercedes could turn around the team’s fortunes from the 2026 F1 season onwards.
Williams’ return will be reminiscent of the giant leap the team experienced when F1’s V6 hybrid engine was first introduced in 2014.
In the final season of the V8 era in 2013 they only managed to score five points and finish ninth in the constructors’ standings, but the switch to Mercedes engines for F1 in 2014 saw the team rise to third place with nine podiums throughout the season.
A move to Red Bull would see Sainz return to the company with which he made his F1 debut in 2015, partnering a 17-year-old Verstappen for the Toro Rosso B team.
Despite matching Max Verstappen’s performance throughout the 2015/16 season, the Dutchman was promoted to Red Bull’s senior team seat after four races of the 2016 F1 season. Since then, he has won three consecutive world championships and established himself as one of the greatest drivers in history.
Sainz spent a further 18 months at Toro Rosso before having stints at Renault and McLaren before signing as Sebastian Vettel’s replacement at Ferrari ahead of the 2021 F1 season.
Read next: Carlos Sainz has one “sensible” option: neither Mercedes nor Red Bull will sign him.
