Carlos Sainz is about to start his 11th season in Formula 1 and will line up with his fifth different manufacturer in 2025.
Only Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg out of the drivers currently on the grid have raced for more teams than Carlos Sainz, but the younger Spaniard has done it in half the time.
After four years with Ferrari, the 2025 F1 season will see Sainz begin a new challenge with Williams.
Although the move away from Maranello was forced by the signing of Lewis Hamilton, Sainz has been impressed by what he’s seen at Williams and appears to be up for the challenge.
The 30-year-old has improved every F1 team that he’s raced for, with Williams hoping to benefit from Sainz’s expertise, particularly from what he’s picked up at Ferrari.
However, Sainz may be left slightly frustrated that he’s only recorded four Grand Prix victories in his career.
That may come down to some of the career choices that he’s made and in an interview with Soy Motor, he explained that he never really gelled with one manufacturer that he worked with.
Carlos Sainz ‘didn’t love’ his time driving Renault’s Formula 1 car
Sainz was asked about whether the 2025 Williams car will be adapted to him or if he’ll be adapting to the car, given it’s the final year of the current regulations.
The Spaniard used examples of when he has and hasn’t felt comfortable at various times in his career and said: “I have had two cars in which I have had to adapt.
“The 2022 Ferrari which was the most shocking, I would tell you in terms of how different it was in terms of driving.
READ MORE: All you need to know about Alpine F1 Team from team principal to lineage
“Maybe a little bit with the Renault [as well], I just didn’t love how it went and maybe I never got my best version out.
“When I arrived at McLaren and as soon as I got in the car I said, ‘Don’t touch it too much, because I already like how it goes, you have to change this or that’, but naturally I was fast.
“The all-pink one was also very fast and I also really like the 2024 and 2021 Ferrari.”
Sainz made a late switch to Renault – now Alpine – in 2017, completing the final four races of the year with the team after leaving Toro Rosso.
His only full season with the French outfit came the following year, but after finishing 10th in the drivers’ championship, he made the decision to join McLaren which proved to be an immediate upgrade.
Carlos Sainz explains the ‘problem’ he faced testing Williams’ 2024 F1 car
Sainz’s career path of Toro Rosso, Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and now Williams is fascinating and unlike someone like Hulkenberg who has also moved up and down the paddock, the Spaniard has been given a race-winning car during his career.
It will therefore be frustrating for him to have to drop down to a team who finished second-last in the 2024 constructors’ championship, but Sainz had plenty of options available to him this year and still decided to Williams.
He was asked about driving the 2024 Williams during a post-season test in Abu Dhabi last year and said: “The problem is that Alex was not next to me.
READ MORE: Williams driver Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height
“I was obviously fast, but having your teammate at your side, you also see how much you lack in some type of corner.
“Yes, I was fast, you already saw that, but I can’t tell you if it’s because I pushed things to the limit, because in that test I left things out.
“Above all, in the classification, with five [drivers] on softs and the others 19 drivers next to me not.”
