Helmut Marko speaks out on ‘tragic’ Carlos Sainz situation with contract clause teased

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko says it is “tragic” that Carlos Sainz has been unable to secure a seat with a front-running team for the F1 2025 season after the Ferrari man’s move to Williams was made official.

Williams last week announced the signing of Sainz on a two-year contract “with options to extend” beyond the F1 2026 season, ending the long-running saga surrounding the Spaniard’s future.

Helmut Marko bemoans ‘tragic’ Carlos Sainz F1 2025 fate

The signing of Sainz represents a major coup for Williams team principal James Vowles, who has plans for the team to re-emerge as a major force having been restricted to just a single race victory over the last two decades.

Williams fought off Renault-owned Alpine and Audi, who will take over the existing Sauber team in 2026, to secure Sainz’s signature.

Sainz started his F1 career with Red Bull junior team VCARB (then Toro Rosso) in 2015 before breaking free from Red Bull towards the end of the 2017 season having been overlooked for a promotion to the senior team.

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Writing in his Speedweek column, Marko believes it is “understandable” that Sainz chose Williams over Audi and Alpine given the doubts over both manufacturers, with Audi reeling from high-level management changes and Renault considering dropping their in-house engine division in favour of a customer supply from 2026.

Yet he sees it as “tragic” that Sainz has been forced to drop down the grid, having produced his best-ever start to an F1 season in 2024, which culminated in his third career victory at the Australian Grand Prix just two weeks after he was ruled out of the previous race in Saudi Arabia with appendicitis.

Marko said: “It is understandable that Carlos Sainz has decided to go to Williams, because what are the alternatives?

“Audi certainly won’t be one next year, if you look at their current form [as Sauber].

“And with Alpine, you don’t know whether they’ll get the Mercedes engine in 2025 or 2026. I would say that was still the best solution for him in his situation.

“Of course, it’s tragic that he’s having his best season at Ferrari and can’t get a cockpit in a top team.”

Sainz’s switch to Williams was confirmed 24 hours after the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa, where PlanetF1.com’s on-the-ground reporter Thomas Maher spotted Sainz’s father, the rallying great Carlos Sainz Sr, and manager Carlos Onoro leaving Williams’ hospitality unit.

Reports in the German media followed that Sainz had put pen to paper on a contract to join Williams, with the original report claiming that the deal contains a clause allowing Sainz to back out of the agreement if an opportunity at Red Bull or Mercedes arises for the F1 2025 season.

If true, it could result in the extraordinary scenario whereby Sainz never actually races for Williams despite agreeing to join the Grove-based team.

Marko made reference to the rumoured get-out clause in an assessment of Sainz’s prospects at Williams, adding: “Things should be moving forward at Williams, where he also has a powerful engine.

“And he supposedly has a clause in his contract that allows him to leave if he receives an offer from a significantly better-placed team.”

Speaking to select media including PlanetF1.com after Sainz’s switch was confirmed, Vowles refused to confirm the existence of the rumoured clause, dismissing it as “speculation.”

He said: “There are precisely 10 people in the world that know what the interior of the contract holds. The Carlos camp know and I know what’s inside.

“So anything you have read on the internet is speculation and that’s it.

“It was the message [in Williams’ official announcement], that ‘2025, ’26 and beyond’ did not come from myself. That came from Carlos.

“He wanted it to be abundantly clear to all of you, to the world, that he is committed, and this is where he wants to be.”

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