F1 star admits 'frustration' over Mercedes contract failure

Williams F1 star Carlos Sainz has admitted 'frustration' over not being able to secure a contract with Mercedes after being axed by Ferrari.

In 2024, it was announced that Ferrari would be replacing Sainz with seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton in the blockbuster signing of the season, leaving the Spaniard with a full year ahead to prove his worth to every other team on the grid.

He did that spectacularly, winning two races in 2024 to contribute to the Scuderia's second place finish in the constructors' championship, concluding the season just 14 points behind winners McLaren.

However, his strong performances across the year were not enough to convince Mercedes to sign him as Hamilton's replacement, with the Brackley outfit instead opting to take a gamble on 18-year-old youngster Kimi Antonelli to partner George Russell.

Despite Sergio Perez's dip in performance across 2024, Sainz was not in the running for a seat at Red Bull either, and ended up with a choice between Williams and Alpine, eventually choosing Williams and signing a multi-year contract with the legacy team.

Now, despite praising the long-term project at Williams and the role that team principal James Vowles is playing in their turnaround, Sainz has expressed his annoyance at not being able to secure a contract with a 'top' team on the 2025 grid.

"That’s a frustration and a feeling that I was really struggling to put behind [me] because I could see at some point it was not happening, I could see and understand why but I would still not want to believe it," Sainz told the High Performance Podcast.

"Another reason I took the decision so late was because I was still hopeful that maybe potentially I would still have a competitive car for 2025 because that was one of the things I really wanted to do was to win in 2025, to prove to everyone I still belong here, for podiums and winning races.

"But that made things a bit more tricky because during those three or four months, I would sometimes get a hope that one of these two teams was maybe a possibility, but then another low, another hope, another low."

When later asked by host Jake Humphrey if he ever got close to securing a contract with Mercedes and principal Toto Wolff, Sainz replied: "Not really. We spoke a lot with Toto and everyone else at the time and I was certainly one of the options that was considered.

"But how close was I? You can ask Toto that, but I think he is very happy with Kimi Antonelli."

How is Sainz faring after Williams F1 switch?

While not having the car to be able to challenge for podiums and race victories in 2025, the hope for Sainz was to prove his worth this year, before Williams are hopefully able to get closer to the front of the field after regulation changes in 2026.

However, Sainz has struggled to settle in to his new team, only picking up 13 points from the first 12 races of the season, and sat down in 15th in the drivers' championship.

His team-mate Alex Albon on the other hand has scored 46 points and is sat up in eighth in the championship, helping Williams to fifth-place in the constructors' standings.

As Williams looks to return to winning ways next season and beyond, Sainz's search continues for the form that saw him finish fifth in 2024, and achieve his best ever grands prix victories haul in a single season.

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