Planet F1 Reveals Why Carlos Sainz Jr. Refused Audi F1 Deal

Even though Audi has locked down its two new drivers for Sauber for the coming season, and it’s very likely those two will see the four rings launch in F1 for the 2026 season, we’ve been curious why Carlos Sainz Jr. took a pass on an Audi seat to join Williams instead.

PlanetF1 caught up with the outgoing Ferrari F1 driver in order to glean more insight on the subject. The full report can be found HERE, and through that we learned that it wasn’t necessarily aligned with his father’s feelings on the subject.

Sainz’s Father Was “100 Percent” Convinced on Audi F1
It probably didn’t hurt that Carlos Sr. nabbed a Dakar Rally victory relatively quickly while working with Audi Sport. The elder Sainz saw what Audi was capable of, and reportedly was heavily suggesting Sainz Jr. seriously consider the Audi F1 effort even though Sauber as we know it today is struggling to even be in the points.

He said to Planet F1, “In the end, I had to follow my instincts. I have the utmost respect for the Audi brand. My father has told me a thousand times how good they will be. He is 100 per cent sure that Audi will be strong in the future.

“Although I wanted to help build something up, I also wanted to achieve good results in the short term. In my opinion, Williams was the best option. I still stand by this decision.”

According to the story, Williams was all in on Carlos early. So, when the Spanish driver didn’t get picked up by one of the most dominant teams, he had to choose one where he believed he could build a future. For Sainz Jr., he believed the answer was Williams.

Considering the 2024 season, Williams did outperform Sauber. It was only in the last race that Sauber scored its first points of the season. That’s not a great record, and it’s unlikely that the remaining Sauber effort before shifting to Audi will net substantially larger results.

The question then may be how long of a build up Audi F1 faces once it arrives in 2016. In past history, Audi Sport has made repeatable its practice of joining a racing series only to win a championship very shortly thereafter – World Rally in the 1980s, Trans-Am, IMSA GTO, DTM, Touring Car and Le Mans.

If we only base this on history, then Audi’s chances of coming out of the gate dominant aren’t bad. And that the formula will change in 2026 also doesn’t hurt, resetting the status quo all over again with a new car formula for all and Audi as an engine supplier as well.

Even still, Audi isn’t always so dominant when faced with direct competition from other leading brands who happen to land a better formula. We saw this in Group B in the 1980s and in Le Mans as Audi ramped down its LMP1 program at the same time Porsche and Toyota were showing very clear performance gains. How it plays out is anybody’s guess.

So, did Carlos Sainz Jr. make the right choice? Time will tell.