Carlos Sainz has made all the recent headlines in F1 town for choosing Williams as his next team. The Spaniard will end his run with Ferrari at the end of 2024, and then he will go to Grove to partner Alex Albon. But Sainz’s move has raised the eyebrows of many onlookers who believed he would have gone for Alpine or Sauber instead. On one hand, Flavio Briatore, the advisor of the French outfit had previously said he would stop at nothing to rope in Sainz for his team. On the other, Audi will enter F1 as a part of the Sauber team in 2026 and for that, they needed Carlos Sainz too.

Hailing from a racing family, Sainz’s father Carlos Sr is already an Audi recruit for the Dakar Rally. The 62-year-old attained victory at this year’s Dakar, showing how Audi can help a racer win the Championship. Still, his son did not want to side with Sauber, and he chose Williams as his future address. According to SkySports’ Craig Slater, this goes to show how Carlos Jr. has more faith in James Vowles‘ Williams rebuilding project rather than Audi’s hopes of making an impactful Formula 1 debut.

Speaking on how the Madrid native shoved the offer from his father’s team to go to Williams, Slater said on the SkySports F1 podcast, “I think it’s a vote of no confidence for Sauber Audi. When you think about the family connection with Sainz, [you see] Carlos Sr. winning Dakar with Audi. For him [Carlos Sainz] to walk away from that when it seemed the most obvious place for him to go is a  clear sign that things are not right.”

There are just 18 months to go before Audi makes its F1 debut with 100% ownership over the existing Sauber team. However, new concerns about the squad have cropped up as it has made a last-minute leadership change. While Andreas Seidl has left the ambitious project, ex-Ferrari chief Mattia Binotto has jumped in. As this indicates the team is in disarray, what did Craig Slater say about the condition of Audi-Sauber?

SkySports commentator shares insider info on Audi’s 2026 F1 entry

With a massive Formula 1 entry to look forward to, Audi has focused its huge manforce on perfecting the team before taking on heavyweights like Red Bull and Mercedes. But at a crucial time like this, Andreas Seidl has left them. And the team seems to be in big trouble because its advancements are not going on as one would expect. Speaking on this, Craig Slater had a few details to leak: “I spoke to someone who has a good window on what is going on are, like, currently at that team [Sauber-Audi]. He described it to me as a mess and observed that this is a team that can’t even out a wheel on a car properly.”

Slater finished his comment by claiming that the sudden exit of Seidl and the abrupt appointment of Mattia Binotto had left Audi-Sauber in a mess. He said, “The turmoil at the top is reflective of things going wrong at the moment [with Sauber].” And thus, it goes without saying that these are the things that perhaps led Carlos Sainz to pick a seat at Williams over a seat at Sauber.

With Sainz going to Williams and Ocon choosing Haas, 4 seats are still left in the 2025 F1 grid. Mercedes seems to have a big announcement to make as the team is still looking for Lewis Hamilton‘s replacement. On the other hand, there are seats available at VCARB, Sauber, and Alpine. Who do you think might go to these seats in the silly season for F1 2025? Share your predictions in the comments.