Williams went all-in on Sainz early on, Vowles explains why

On 1 February this year, it was announced that Lewis Hamilton would replace Sainz at Ferrari. It is unclear whether Sainz already knew in November 2023 that he would have to make way for the seven-time world champion. Either way, after the Hamilton news, it took almost six more months for Sainz to give his yes to Williams.

All eggs in one basket for Sainz

So Vowles had to be patient, but he has not started talk to other drivers. "There's only one driver’s team I spoke to in Abu Dhabi last year. Only one, and it was Carlos. Just to be super clear on that. I didn't spread bets. I went for one driver that I thought would make the difference. I also thought, for complete transparency, that we wouldn't have to wait on the car. And if you don't know the numbers, but we would have been in a point scoring position at the weekend, I actually think it would have been a more difficult choice for him, if Ferrari was more on the rocks," said the Briton, who was keen to make his interest in the driver from Madrid. "And I didn't know that it would be."

"My point more was to position myself in the most sensible way possible for that. Again, performance drives everything. If you're in the points, you have a lot more phone calls than if you're not. But I didn't call or contact anyone else," said Vowles, who did add: " In fact, the only time I did was later in the program, where it became very clear that Carlos may not join us. And at that point, I've got to make sure that I put my eggs in multiple baskets to cover it off."

He continued: "But he's aware of when I did that, and it was very late on in the process. And the reason why I did that, and it's the same with the public element of things, is, I strongly believe in what we're doing here. I think all of you that know me well enough know that you can look me in the eyes and I'll give you an honest answer. I really do believe in what we're doing, the direction of travel, why it would be successful. And I believe the same around Carlos as well. If you're going to go for an individual that's going to make the difference, I'm not just focused on how quick he is in the car, I'm focused on how he is as a personality. By the way this also includes how his entourage is," the team principal concluded to GPblog and others.

This article was written in collaboration with Kada Sarkozi