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Carlos Sainz made a mistake in choosing Williams over Audi Carlos Sainz has scored just six points so far this season Carlos Sainz appeared to have pulled off a masterstroke when he came away from his first season with Williams with two podium finishes. Yet with Williams stalling alarmingly in F1 2026, and the new-look Audi F1 team making an encouraging start to life in F1, did Sainz make a mistake back in 2024? Carlos Sainz set to decide Williams future after disappointing F1 2026 A version of this article originally appeared in PlanetF1.com’s conclusions from the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix The problem with Williams placing such a huge emphasis on 2026? The team was always likely to fall short of its own targets. Let’s pretend for a moment that Mercedes’ dream scenario had become a reality this season, with a 2014-esque engine advantage that put the Merc-powered teams a whole lightyear ahead of the rest. What reason was there to expect that Williams would be ahead of the factory team in 2026? Ahead of McLaren, the constructors’ champions of the last two years? Even ahead of Alpine, whose switch to Mercedes power ensured its very capable chassis would no longer be constrained by a Renault engine not fit for purpose? Seventh and eighth. That’s it. That was always going to be the ceiling for Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon on a typical race weekend in 2026 even if Williams got everything right and Mercedes got lucky over the winter. Carlos Sainz vs Alex Albon: Williams head-to-head stats for F1 2026 season F1 2026: Head-to-head qualifying records between teammates F1 2026: Head-to-head race statistics between teammates It is said that among the keys to happiness is hoping for the best but expecting the worst. The mistake Williams made was being so open about expecting the best, making such a big deal of the opportunity presented by 2026 that everything since the turn of the year has come as a crushing disappointment. Even now, as James Vowles continues to talk with a striking lack of self-awareness about competing for world championships by 2030, there are times when it seems all sense of perspective has been lost. Sainz was sucked in by the promise of 2026 during the summer of love in 2024 when Vowles, who memorably likened their negotiations to being on a date, spent months whispering sweet nothings in his ear. His move to Williams was never about last season, even if 2025 went better than anyone – not least Carlos himself – could have imagined. This was meant to be the big one. So now he has been limited to just six points across the first half of the season, it is no great surprise that he has been considering his options over recent months. PlanetF1.com revealed over the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend in June that Sainz was questioning his future at Williams with Audi, the team he turned down two years ago, targeted as a potential alternative for 2027. More recently, we have reported that any prospect of Sainz replacing Nico Hulkenberg, who remains under contract with Audi, is firmly off the table. Increasingly Sainz looks stuck exactly where he is. Sainz, being the respectful and gracious man he is, has been careful over recent months to stress his affection for Williams while at the same time conceding that a decision on his future would have to be made over the summer break. Despite his close relationship with Vowles, Sainz’s bond with Mattia Binotto, the man who signed him for Ferrari and worshipped the ground on which he walked at Maranello, runs even deeper. Looking back now, it seems not insignificant that Binotto was appointed by Audi just three days after Sainz’s move to Williams was made official in 2024. Had Audi brought Binotto in, say, a month earlier, might the then-Sauber team have already convinced Sainz to join two years ago? It is believed that reservations over the Audi F1 project played a role in Sainz choosing Williams following his departure from Ferrari. Yet with Audi making a better-than-expected start to life in F1, the doubts surrounding that team and its plans for the future are gradually disappearing. With great regret, the same cannot be said of Williams. What Mattia Binotto told PlanetF1.com about Carlos Sainz rumours Additional reporting by Thomas Maher In an exclusive interview with PlanetF1.com prior to the summer break, Binotto said it is “flattering” that drivers of Sainz’s calibre view Audi as a credible option. Binotto said: “I think, in the end, it is bringing credibility to our project. “If people are interested in our team, I think it means people perceive at least that the team is doing seriously whatever we are doing at the moment and they perceive that our project has a clear ambition and is going in the right direction. “So if you would have been lost, maybe not making the right decisions, no one would be interested. “Instead, the fact that at least you can read of interest in the team – and that’s not only drivers, it’s partners, whatever – that means the team is doing well and that is flattering for us. “Having said that, we’ve got two strong drivers.” Read next: The case for Max Verstappen to leave Red Bull for McLaren