ANALYSIS: How Williams won out over Sauber and Alpine to secure Carlos Sainz – and what it means for the rest of the driver market

Carlos Sainz has finally released some pressure in the driver market by choosing his ride for 2025, the Spaniard committing his future to James Vowles’s rebuild project at Williams. With other offers on the table, why did he choose the iconic British team and what does it mean for the rest of the driver market?

Losing your seat at Ferrari is never going to be easy, but Sainz could at least take comfort from the fact he was losing his to the greatest driver of his generation, in the form of Lewis Hamilton.

At that stage, Sainz was in a good position to find a strong drive for 2025 and beyond, with seats at Red Bull, Mercedes, Aston Martin, Alpine, Williams, Kick Sauber and Haas available.

READ MORE: Sainz signs for Williams as Spaniard’s F1 future is confirmed

But as time went on, doors began to shut – firstly at Aston Martin when Fernando Alonso re-signed. Then it quickly became clear seats at race-contender teams Red Bull or Mercedes were no longer options. That left Sainz choosing between three projects – Williams, Sauber/Audi and Alpine.

All three had pros, all three had cons. The consistent thread, though, was that they were all projects that didn’t offer him an immediate opportunity to win or even challenge for podiums regularly. This took Sainz some time to accept, given he has been fighting at the sharp end this season and secured his third career victory earlier in the year in Australia.