Carlos Sainz has revealed why he believes leaving McLaren at the end of the 2021 Formula 1 season was the correct decision as he struggles for pace with Williams in 2026.2
Sainz is enduring a challenging start to his second season with Williams, having gained momentum in the latter half of 2025.
That Sainz is in a Williams is an injustice in the eyes of many fans following his podiums and victories in his spells at McLaren and Ferrari.
The Spaniard’s career took a different trajectory than many expected, as he found himself without a drive following Lewis Hamilton’s move to Ferrari from Mercedes.
But Sainz has made clear he believes in his original decison to leave McLaren for Ferrari, outlining his rationale.
“No. And I tell you, why not? Because first of all, in 2021, in Ferrari, I achieved my first podiums of my career,” said Sainz to Beyond the Grid when quizzed if he could wrestled the driver’s title way from Lando Norris if he had remained at McLaren.
“In 2022, I won my first races and in 2023, while I was still winning races in Ferrari, McLaren were still almost dead last in the Qualifying of Bahrain. I would have thought back then, ‘I would be winning races with Ferrari’.
“I think it [leaving McLaren] was the right thing to do at the right time. And the only thing I feel is happiness for the team. I feel honestly happy for them. I don’t feel any regrets.
“Lando has been always quick since the day he became an F1 driver. I think he’s just become a bit more of an all rounder through the last six years, and, he’s become more championship material. And then he confirmed it in 2025 with a very strong second part of the season.”
Carlos Sainz explains Williams journey
Reiterating his belief in Williams, Sainz outlined the scale of the project and task ahead of Williams to bag its first race win since 2012.
“I think every team on every journey is completely different, but the stage that I think I found Williams in 2025, I think I would say it’s a very similar journey to where I found McLaren in 2019, 2020,” he said.
“I don’t know how long it will take Williams compared to McLaren and still, what McLaren has done of becoming World Champions eventually is an extremely difficult task.
“Because even if Williams can become more competitive through the next few years, then to win is another step that is even more difficult. So congratulations to McLaren for that. But yeah, I would say Williams is in a similar point, from where McLaren were in 2019.
“[Williams is] a life project, because, I’m 31-years-old now and I feel I can enter the next few years of my career with a very clear target in mind, which is try and help this team and go back to the front of the field.”
F1 is full of many “what if” scenarios. Drivers cannot predict the future fortunes of their current teams, but Sainz will be hurting to know a former team he helped build in 2019 has back to back championships.
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