FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Belgian Grand Prix - Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Stavelot, Belgium - July 27, 2024 Ferrari's Carlos Sainz Jr. arrives before qualifying REUTERS/Leonhard Foeger/File Photo
(Reuters) - Williams boss James Vowles said he was surprised top Formula One teams Red Bull and Mercedes had not signed Carlos Sainz before he sealed a deal that started with a discussion in Abu Dhabi last November.
The former champions announced on Monday, a day after the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps, that triple race winner Sainz had signed for Williams in 2025 and 2026 with options to extend.
"I rate him as one of the top four drivers if not, at times, the number two driver on the grid. Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable," Vowles told reporters on a video call on Tuesday.
"Look at every team he has been in. They have improved significantly. And I get why, after spending the last nine months talking to him at least weekly if not daily.
"What I’ve realised with him is that he is a performance machine. He absolutely will do everything it takes within his power to not transform just himself, but the team around him as well at the same time."
Vowles said he would have Sainz alongside triple world champion Max Verstappen instead of Sergio Perez if he was in charge of Red Bull, whose advantage in the standings is being whittled away by McLaren.
Verstappen has won seven times this season while Perez has struggled.
Mercedes are expected to go for youth, with young Italian protege Andrea Kimi Antonelli set to replace seven times world champion Lewis Hamilton.
Talks between Vowles and Sainz started long before Hamilton decided to leave Mercedes to join Ferrari in 2025.
Vowles said it had been a rollercoaster journey, with secret meetings in hotel rooms around the world.
"From the beginning I gave him, warts and all, here's what's going to happen," he said. "We are going to go backwards, here's why, here's what we are investing in, here's what's coming, here's why I'm excited by this project. And it's your choice."
Williams are ninth of 10 teams in the constructors' standings.
Sainz was sought by Sauber, who will become Audi in 2026, and Renault-owned Alpine. But Sauber are last of all while Alpine are struggling in eighth.
Vowles said beating two manufacturers to the Spaniard's signature was one of the proudest moments of his career but also a process that had kept him on tenterhooks.
"What he's buying into is what can we provide over the next two years, what's the direction of travel?," said the boss.
He said only 10 people knew the details of the contract, so media reports of exit clauses were just speculation, and Sainz was committed to Williams.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
