Carlos Sainz opens up about his 'no bulls**t' style as Williams debut gets closer

Carlos Sainz has opened up about his 'no bulls**t' style and how he tends to approach things in F1 with his Williams debut looming large. The Spaniard has joined the Grove-based squad after a stint with Ferrari from 2021 to 2024. Before that, Sainz was a part of McLaren as well and had helped the team make significant strides.

In 2024, while he was in conversations with Ferrari about a contract renewal, the news of Lewis Hamilton signing for the Italian team dropped, subsequently ending his time with the team. The driver had a decision to make. He first tried to secure a seat with one of the top teams, like Red Bull and Mercedes.

With neither of the teams willing to go for the Spaniard, he took a call on joining Williams in what is a long-term project with James Vowles at the helm. In a Q&A special, Sainz was questioned how he has been able to be teamed up with some impressive talents like Charles Leclerc at Ferrari or Lando Norris at McLaren but still come out looking strong.

Talking about how he was a bit of a racing freak, Carlos Sainz felt that in his view it all came down to his no-bulls**t approach. He said (in a video on Williams’ official YouTube channel via Planet F1):

"I love racing. I love traveling to these races. I love spending time with my engineers, spending time looking at set-ups, looking at onboards, looking at everything. I am a bit of a racing freak, if you want to call it like that, and I like transmitting that to the people around me."

“And I think in combination with Alex, I see him as a very easy going person similar to me, no bulls**t, no politics, whatever. And I think he’s a really good human being. I think in combination with the two of us, we can do a very strong partnership and help him to push this team forward with the right spirit. So honestly, looking forward to it,” Carlos Sainz added.

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Carlos Sainz on what made him sign for Williams

Talking about why Carlos Sainz signed for Williams, the Spaniard said that he made the call after he met James Vowles and found out that he had a very impressive project in place.

Talking about how the strong leadership helped him fall in love with the project, he said (via F1):

“When I started discussing more in detail with James, I realised that he had put together a very strong project here in Williams. He was forming a team, with a vision, with a project, together with [team owners] Dorilton, that I think is going to bring this team back to the front. [There is] very strong leadership and a vision that immediately made me, let’s say, fall in love with the project, and trust his leadership. Then I say people, but it’s part of the same thing.”

Carlos Sainz is on a multi-year project with the team, but at the same time, the driver is rumored to have clauses where if a top team does come calling, he would be able to move. It would be interesting to see in 2025 if the loyalty gets tested.