‘Perfect’ F1 driver was genuinely worried he joined the wrong team in 2025 after ‘difficult’ season

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F1 journalist Lawrence Barretto has highlighted the struggles of one driver who was genuinely worried about his decision to sign for the team he is currently racing for.

There were a number of different moves that happened over the course of the winter break last year.

Six rookies joined the grid, the most since 2010, as well as higher-profile moves such as Lewis Hamilton to Ferrari and Carlos Sainz to Williams, to name a few.

It’s fairly rare to see someone jump into a new F1 car and become competitive from their very first race. A couple that come to mind are Hamilton’s debut with McLaren in 2007 and Max Verstappen’s storybook maiden win with Red Bull in 2016.

Outside of the anomalies, it generally takes a few race weekends to get to grips with the new bit of kit underneath them to be able to perform to the best of their potential.

In the case of Carlos Sainz at Williams, his poor start to the 2025 campaign had him second-guessing his decision to put pen to paper on a contract at the Grove-based Formula 1 team.

READ MORE: Williams star Carlos Sainz’s life outside F1 from full name, girlfriend and height

Carlos Sainz was genuinely worried that he had joined the wrong F1 team before his podium in Baku

Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, journalist Lawrence Barretto was asked about the changes he has seen in Sainz after the Spaniard secured a maiden podium for Williams at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September.

The journalist stated that Sainz was ‘starting to think that it might not work out’ at Williams at the round before in Italy, before he was asked if the 31-year-old was ‘genuinely worried’ about his place at the team before the race in Baku, a week later.

“Yes, I do, because the success of Carlos has been that he’s always backed himself to find a solution. He’s got that family unit of his dad, Carlos Sainz Sr, his cousin, Carlos Onoro, they always believed, but it was just another problem after another problem after another problem.

They were always so different that he was starting to think, ‘What on earth have I got to do?’ And then Baku came, and it all came together, and it came at the perfect time, because he needed that.

To answer your question, yes, I think he has always fed off success. He’s always fed off when he’s got that job done over the course of a weekend, when he knows he has. He trusts in this team.

“He trusts in Williams. He trusts his engineering team. He’s really good at going to a new team and getting a really close engineering unit that becomes family.”

Team principal James Vowles predicted that Williams would return to the podium in 2025, noting that Sainz was just the final ingredient in the British constructor’s resurgence to the top of the grid in the coming years.

READ MORE: Carlos Sainz reveals how former Ferrari colleagues reacted after he scored his first podium for Williams

The F1 paddock was delighted with Carlos Sainz’s heroics in Azerbaijan

Members of the Formula 1 paddock were united in their joy for the Spaniard as he stood on the podium in celebration of his 28th career F1 podium and first in the white overalls of Williams Racing.

Former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc congratulated him over the radio, whilst the only other man to stand atop the podium for Williams in the current decade, George Russell, applauded Sainz during his post-race interview.

Damon Hill and Sergio Perez also gave Sainz his due on social media, expressing their delight to see him back on the podium after having been made to make way for Hamilton at the end of last year.

The Spaniard will now be hoping to finish the season on a strong note before starting next year fully prepared to record top-10 results from the very first race of the season.