‘It depends on how quickly we bounce back’ – Sainz on whether he will stay at ‘underperforming’ Williams

Carlos Sainz has explained that the decision on whether he will continue to drive for Williams in the future “depends on how quickly we manage to bounce back”, with the Spaniard admitting that he will only wait so long for the team to improve.

When Sainz made way for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari, the long-term ambition to win races and championships convinced him to sign for Williams – he explained at the time that Team Principal James Vowles’ vision made him “fall in love with the project”.

His move proved to be more successful than anyone could have hoped for as he secured Williams’ first podiums in four years with a pair of P3s in Azerbaijan and Qatar, but the team have faced major setbacks this season, including an overweight car and production delays.

As a result, they have dropped to the back of the midfield and scored only 11 points from the opening 10 rounds, with Sainz claiming six of those. He’s made no secret of their struggles, causing speculation around his future with the squad.

Asked ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix when he would confirm his plans for the future, Sainz answered: “I honestly don't know. I cannot give you a date.

“I always said I was going to wait until the summer to sit down with my team and think about this and discuss with them, with James and everyone, the future of the team and my future in it. I expect that obviously during the summer we will start to make a decision and start to see a bit more of the situation. Exact timings, I don't know.”

Sainz is signed to a multi-year deal that runs until at least the end of this season, and he isn’t the only driver who has been subject to rumours about their futures – Max Verstappen’s future at Red Bull has been debated, while it remains to be seen whether Fernando Alonso will remain at Aston Martin after this season.

However, Sainz made it clear that in spite of the challenges facing Williams, the same aspiration that attracted him to the team in the first place remains, and will be a big factor in his decision-making over the upcoming break.

“I think there’s no secret that my expectations or timeline of how long it would take me to win a race again, with Williams being the place to do that, has been delayed by a year or two,” he said. “It depends on how quickly we manage to bounce back from this situation.

“Obviously I had in my mind a timeframe that I was willing to accept in order to help this team get back to a winning position, and how long I was willing to wait for myself to be fighting for wins again.

“Clearly that timeline unfortunately – for all of us, because the team is also affected by it – is going to be longer than we expected, and that path is going to be longer than expected.

“Having said that, I can see what the team is investing in the future. I see the vision of the team is still pretty clear. I see how much is going on behind the scenes when we leave car performance aside.

“It still gives me confidence and motivation that we’re going in the right direction. It’s just that this year’s car, for whatever reason, has been underperforming and very short to our expectations through many, many different reasons that I'm not going to talk about them again here.

“I need to re-adapt my thinking and portray myself now in three to four years' time and make a decision. But I'm still confident in the path and the project that we are in.”