James Vowles “surprised” Red Bull, Mercedes overlooked Carlos Sainz

Williams F1 boss James Vowles has conceded he was “surprised” Carlos Sainz was overlooked by Red Bull and Mercedes, hailing him as one of the “top four” drivers on the current grid.

On Monday, Williams announced they have signed Sainz for the next two years.

It’s a major coup for Williams given that Sainz is widely-regarded as one of the best drivers on the grid, stacking up well against Lando Norris at McLaren and now Charles Leclerc at Ferrari.

Sainz attracted major interest from Audi and Alpine, but opted to join Vowles’ exciting Williams project.

Speaking on Tuesday, to media including Crash.net in a virtual press conference, Vowles admitted if he was in Red Bull’s position, he would have signed Sainz to put alongside Max Verstappen.

“When you’re in Red Bull’s position where you’ve got a constructors’ championship at risk,” he said. “It’s a hard decision but yes, I would have Carlos alongside Max.”

Vowles admitted his former team, Mercedes, are in a trickier position given their sways in performance.

“If you’re in Mercedes it’s a hard choice,” he explained. “They’ve swayed between not been competitive in which case it makes sense to invest in the future [Antonelli] to being very competitive - so now it’s a harder decision whether you invest in known or unknown entities.

“That said, if Mercedes have made that decision they have far more information than I do it’s more likely they’re more than confident in the direction of travel. Whether that’s Max or Kimi, I am not sure. They’re not fools. They’ve made this decision sensibly.

“If Red Bull have decided to do this, then again, there’s reasons behind it I won’t be aware of. They’re multiple world champions. They don’t make decisions lightly. But I was surprised.”

The acquisition of Sainz gives Williams one of the strongest line ups on the grid.

Vowles believes Sainz is among the top four drivers - and at times - the second best.

"Yes [I was surprised], is the short answer to it because I rate him as one of the top four if not at times the number two driver on the grid,” he added. "Why wouldn’t you want that in your stable? My view of things is that fundamentally competitors are getting closer and closer so the marginal difference that a driver can make. I don’t just mean in performance terms.

“Every team he’s been in has improved significantly, and I get why spending the last nine months talking to him.

“At least weekly if not daily in truth. Rachel, my partner, has been very confused as to our relationship together relative to mine with Carlos. What I have realised with him is that he's a performance machine. He absolutely will do everything it takes within his power not to just transform himself but the team around him. That’s powerful.

“That’s worth more than what he can drive the car at. That’s worth it if you can move the team forward by the same amount.”