Williams release secret F1 2024 car data that convinced Carlos Sainz to sign

Carlos Sainz has inked a two-year deal to join Williams, with possibilities for extension.

Williams team principal James Vowles has lifted the lid on how he convinced Carlos Sainz to join the team for F1 2025, giving the outgoing Ferrari driver access to secret F1 2024 car data.

After months of speculation, Williams last week confirmed the signing of Sainz on a two-year contract “with options to extend.”

Carlos Sainz convinced by Williams F1 2024 car weight data?

This is a significant triumph for the team based in Grove, which hasn’t had a win since the 2012 season. Williams managed to outdo Renault-owned Alpine and Audi, who are set to take over the current Sauber team in 2026, to secure Sainz’s agreement.

Despite Williams team currently being second to last in the Constructors’ standings with only four points from the first 14 races of the F1 2024 season, Sainz has decided to join them.

Vowles disclosed his commitment to secure Sainz involved him sharing sensitive weight figures of their F1 2024 car with the Spaniard. He revealed that the car began the season overweight.

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Vowles stated that Sainz was able to determine that Williams could have scored points at virtually every race this season if the car had achieved its weight targets at the beginning of the year. This confirmed the true potential of the FW46, according to Vowles.

Asked how he managed to convince Sainz to join Williams, Vowles told the F1 Nation podcast: “I think it was a few things.

I provided him with precise weight measurements indicating where the car was overweight in each race. This would allow him to backtrack and calculate the car’s previous states.

For the world, this would have indicated that we were scoring points in almost every race, especially at the start of the year.

This is quite painful for me, but it’s also indicative of the enhanced performance of the car.

We can remove weight and we are doing so. Adding real, tangible aerodynamic performance is quite challenging, and weight is simply a variable.

Throughout my career, I’ve done it a hundred times – adding 10 kilos impacts by about three-tenths; reducing 10 kilos also affects by around three-tenths. There’s no use arguing about it because it happens consistently. He is aware of it and can observe it.

Firstly, he organized everything and stated, ‘This is your current performance level,’ which provided him with a more precise perspective of the actual performance of certain elements. This is indeed very encouraging.

Vowles also gave Sainz an insight into the extent of investment Williams is ready to make in infrastructure and personnel to reestablish themselves as a leading power in F1.

In June, Williams declared that 32 new recruits have joined the team. Vowles disclosed that more recruits are to follow as the team aims for a significant breakthrough when the new F1 rules come into effect in 2026.

He explained, “I also demonstrated to him our future investments in a simplified manner. I wasn’t able to provide a detailed version of it.”

“But I informed him about our investment plans, the amount we’re investing, the reasoning behind it, my personal beliefs, and the expected timeline for the implementation.”

He was aware of everyone we’re recruiting – and, for your information, we still have more announcements yet to come. However, I explained everything to him: our actions, the reasons for our changes, why it’s a lengthy process, and why ’24 is more of a compromise.

“2025 was also a concession, which was challenging for him because of his highly competitive nature. He doesn’t want to be at a disadvantage in ’25. However, ’26 holds a lot of promise and excitement, and here’s what you can anticipate.”

Here’s the true crux of it, and it may be better to inquire from him rather than just hearing it from me: the message I conveyed to him when our discussions began in Abu Dhabi last year is identical to the one I reiterated to him two weeks ago. It remains unchanged.

I’m extremely direct. I will present everything to you, complete with its flaws, and this message won’t change based on our location. It will consistently remain the same.

“I believe that helped him gain confidence in my individual identity and what I represent.”

At the halfway point of the F1 2024, Williams is trailing Sainz’s current team, Ferrari, by 341 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

Vowles concedes that it’s “unlikely” Williams will rival the Scuderia in the forthcoming years. However, the team remains confident that they “have a chance” to compete against some of F1’s other major players.

He further stated, “Will we become Ferrari? It seems improbable, unless I were to make a substantial financial commitment.”

“But do we have the potential to surpass others? I believe we do have an opportunity. Essentially, that’s why I really aimed my focus on [Sainz].”

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