Williams boss clarifies Carlos Sainz involvement after Alex Albon F1 2025 communication claim

James Vowles has clarified Williams are not speaking with Carlos Sainz about their 2025 F1 car after Alex Albon raised eyebrows when he revealed they’d been having chats about “where the car is at”.

Sainz will be Albon’s new team-mate next season having signed a multi-year deal with the Grove team, but for now, he’s still a Ferrari driver.

The Spaniard has six more races in red, after which it is up to Ferrari as to whether or not he’ll be permitted to take part in the post-season Abu Dhabi test with his 2025 team.

As such it came as a surprise to many when Albon recently revealed that he and Sainz had been chatting about the F1 cars.

Interviewed by the Brazilian edition of Motorsport.com , the Thai-British racer said he was “starting the communication with Carlos about where the car is at.

“I mean, we were chatting already before he signed the contract, as you wanted to know where the team was at.”

But while the drivers may have a word or two to say to one another, Williams team boss James Vowles has made it clear that he is not speaking with Sainz about Williams’ 2025 car.

“We can’t for obvious reasons, which is, he’s still a Ferrari driver,” the Briton told the Beyond the Grid podcast. “But what we are talking more about is what he’s done historically elsewhere, what he wants to be doing here.”

More on Carlos Sainz and his decision to join Williams

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👉 F1 2026 driver line-up: Carlos Sainz and other drivers already confirmed for 2026

Vowles believes that in Sainz and Albon he has the “best” line-up on the F1 2025 grid as both are drivers who can push a team forward.

“That’s my opinion of it, and I’ll explain some of the reasons behind it,” he explained. “To a certain extent, they’re both performing at a very high level. I mean, Carlos has driven against Lando, and was successful against Charles, up and down but he’s there thereabouts, there’s hardly anything between those two drivers.

“And against Max. In that first year in Toro Rosso was exceptional against him. So it’s not that he hasn’t been challenged all along his career. He’s been challenged all the way through and held his own.

“But it’s not just that that I’m basing it on. It’s not in the car, it’s out the car. In the short space of time that I’ve got to know him properly, he drives the team forward. He wants to spend every minute of his time that he can do to make this team more and more successful.

“And that’s a combination that is not necessarily available up and down the grid. What I mean by that is not just getting the car, that’s not my job. My job is I want this to be a successful organisation.

“Tell me what more we can do, and that’s what I’m looking forward to. And Alex is built the same way.”

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