The Spanish driver looks back on his time at McLaren with a certain nostalgia

Carlos Sainz is having a difficult season at Williams, but he can't help looking back and thinking about how his destiny might have changed if he had stayed at McLaren.

The Madrid native was part of the Woking team for two pivotal years in his career, where he achieved his first Formula 1 podium (Brazil 2019) and, above all, regained the confidence he needed to become one of the most consistent drivers on the grid.

“Those two strong years at McLaren were perhaps the best of my career, where I got the most out of the car I had. If I had stayed, we could be fighting for a World Championship right now,” he told DAZN.

Ferrari was impossible to reject

Sainz recalls that the decision to leave was not easy, but at the time there was no doubt: “I remember leaving McLaren saying ‘I'm going to Ferrari because I have to go’. You can't say no to Ferrari. It was the opportunity of a lifetime,” he says.

During his time with the Scuderia, Sainz achieved multiple podium finishes and his first Formula 1 victory in 2022, which for him validated his choice at the time. 

McLaren vs Ferrari in 2025: a painful contrast

The real blow for Sainz is seeing McLaren become the benchmark for the 2025 season. With Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri dominating the podiums and sharing victories, the team has left behind its role as a “future project” to become a title contender.
Ferrari, meanwhile, has had a more inconsistent campaign, with results that have fallen short of expectations and left them fighting to be “the best of the rest” rather than competing directly for the championship.

The contrast is clear: while McLaren in 2025 has multiple victories, is fighting for the constructors' title, and has two drivers in the top 3 of the championship, Ferrari only has a few podium finishes, but is far behind Red Bull and McLaren, with a battle focused on maintaining third place.

This scenario makes Sainz's statements even more significant: the Spaniard knows that if he had stayed, he would be at the center of the battle for the championship, something that seems far away with Williams today.

Did the dream at McLaren fall short?

Although Sainz makes no secret of the fact that he sometimes wonders “what if...?” the truth is that his departure from McLaren opened the door for two drivers who now dominate the category. For the Spaniard, the challenge now is to turn Williams into a team capable of fighting at the top, something that would allow him to write a new chapter in his history.