First-hand insight into Carlos Sainz F1 seat search after Lewis Hamilton bombshell

A fresh perspective on Carlos Sainz’s search for an F1 drive that ultimately landed him at Williams has been revealed by his manager, Carlos Onoro.

Sainz was left scrambling for a new seat early last year after the bombshell news broke that Lewis Hamilton would be taking his place at Ferrari from 2025 as the seven-time world champion prepared to make a blockbuster switch from Mercedes.

The 31-year-old Spaniard had offers from Audi and Alpine for the current season but ultimately signed a multi-year deal with Williams after weighing up his options.

Onoro has shed some light on the process of helping his cousin Sainz find a new home, which he likened to a “game of chess”.

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“It's no secret that it got us a bit by surprise, the same way that it got by surprise 99 per cent of the paddock,” Onoro told F1.com.

“It's obviously a difficult moment, because you feel the responsibility of having to put your best efforts into that – trying to find a good contract for Carlos – whilst at the same time you need to keep dealing with the day-to-day things.

“So it’s extra work, it's long hours and it's a lot of talking on the phone and not sleeping much. It really gets exhausting, but you need to be focused and you need to have a clear head and a clear strategy.

“Senior plays his role in contract negotiations as well; on the day-to-day basis he is not that involved, but when it comes to F1 contracts, I think we do a good job together as a team, and we are always discussing: what's the strategy? Who do we call next? How do we do this? Do we approach this team now or do we wait?

“It's like a game of chess. You are preparing for a move, but you don't really want to make it very obvious. So you need to be careful what pieces you're moving on the chessboard. The moment you start talking to too many people around, then it starts leaking and [the media] get hold of it and then the rumours start going around and the silly season gets going.

“But it's also interesting, and the silly season is always good fun. You hear rumours from here and there. Then you try to understand how much of which one's true, which one's fake, which one is 50-50.”

How involved was Carlos Sainz?

After Sainz made a final decision over his future, it was down to Onoro to thrash out the best terms for a contract with Williams.

“The way I see it, our job is to put on top of the table all the available options for Carlos and then for him to decide,” Onoro explained.

“Carlos is also part of that process because we keep him updated and discuss strategy together along the way, and obviously we negotiate the best deal possible, but it's for him to take the decision.

“If he wants my opinion as a manager, obviously I'll give him my opinion, but I don't like influencing him too much beyond where my responsibility goes, which is to put the contract on the table. It's his future, it's his career, and he's the one that makes every final call.

“Once the decision is made by the driver, you communicate it to the team, get the paperwork and sign it. The rest is just obviously communicating it in the best way possible to the other contenders or the other teams and then to the public.

“We always try to keep it as professional as possible, trying to not burn any bridges because in this sport you never know what the future holds. We always try to be fair, honest and straightforward with every team. I think we've managed to do that so far.”