Williams Formula 1 boss James Vowles has revealed that he wasn’t sure the team would sign Carlos Sainz until it was done, having been “stung” earlier in the season.
The Grove-based squad announced earlier this week that Sainz has penned a multi-year deal which will see him move to the side once his stint with Ferrari concludes.
Sainz’s prospects past the ongoing season became the centrepiece in the F1 driver market as Williams vied to secure his signature alongside Sauber/Audi and Alpine.
There were reports around the Spanish Grand Prix that Sainz was leaning towards Williams, but Alpine entering the mix caused a protracted complication to transpire.
Vowles has conceded that Williams echoed that sentiment until a disastrous weekend where it had the slowest car materialised as Alpine sustained a sudden upturn.
Asked when he thought it was realistic that Sainz would come, he told media including Motorsport Week: “The moment it looked realistic is when his pen hit the paper.
“That’s the only time I thought it looked realistic. I got stung earlier in the year around Barcelona time.
“I thought we were in a very good state and that’s on our shoulders. We had a shockingly bad event. You can’t do that in professional sport.
“But from the perspective of the ups and downs, it’s been a tribulation up and down all the way through from, I would describe it as Monaco onwards.
“I think is probably the right timeline, where you can follow bits of it in what you’re reporting on, all of you.
“You’re picking up threads of it, but it’s been a rollercoaster, that’s for sure.
“But it hasn’t been a rollercoaster for any more than actually the driver market’s been really up and down.
“There’s no teams that have properly been committing and deciding their direction of travel right at the front.
“And that includes right up until now, last weekend, where there’s still discussions over where does Perez go, what changes there.
“When you have that instability, it’s completely normal that a driver won’t commit to you until such point as they know what their future holds and what doors and avenues are closed.
“That’s my opinion of it. So, as I said, until pen hit paper, I wasn’t confident.”
Vowles, who revealed that discussions with Sainz began last December, explained that Williams’ slump in Barcelona was the sole occasion he pursued other options.
“I didn’t call or contact anyone else,” Vowles disclosed. “In fact, the only time I did was later in the programme, 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. 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 that 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.”
