Well, Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz Jr.

is pedal to the metal in his training

and helping to turn the season around

for Williams. Now finds his bright side

as he had a chance to learn more on the

F1 state of mind at Can.

>> Right now with Williams racing and at

least in Williams have one thing,

we have plenty of of partners, plenty of

people that for sure it's important to

meet here and and get to a bit of

networking going and yeah, as a honestly

even as an individual I find

yeah,

this place interesting to come to even

if Williams wouldn't have

uh asked me to come as um

as part of obviously our our marketing

days, well, I would have probably paid a

visit here. So,

yeah, excited to be here.

>> How do you Is it hard to separate, you

know, being here and being present and

maybe perhaps wanting to practice or

train or do what you do?

>> No, I I think in the day has a lot of

hours and you can spend those hours

efficiently. I'm I'm I'm here for a two

or three hours. Now I'm I'm I flew in

this morning um

uh

here for two or three hours and then

this afternoon I have a

two-hour cycling session to do back in

the mountains there in Monaco, so which

is an hour away where where I live. So,

I'll get everything done. Uh tomorrow I

travel to Austria, next Formula 1 race.

So,

pretty busy life but I but I enjoy being

busy.

>> I uh I'm a big fan of the show and I saw

your thought process and how you arrived

to join Williams.

Take us a little more inside of that.

Like what what made you pull that

trigger?

>> What made me pull that trigger a couple

of years ago is in the end simply the I

always say it's it's the people. I think

in in Formula 1 is you're always

constantly trying to look at

performance numbers, metrics to see

which car is the fastest, which team

will

uh win the next race, which car will be

developed the most.

Eventually I realized that it's

impossible to predict the future. It's a

bit like trying to predict the stock

market. It's

You can give it a go, but most of the

times you're going to be surprised with

>> got stock tips for me? I'm I'm all ears.

>> [laughter]

>> I I I try not to. Eventually, I realized

that I had to pick based more on the on

the vision of the team, the people that

I was going to surround myself with.

Uh the people leading that team, people

like James Vowles, Peter Kenyon that are

uh fundamental figures of of of the

rebuild of Williams team, and I think we

>> are

>> Um in the end, I took the decision based

on that.

>> Are you happy with your decision?

>> Very happy. I think last year we proved

we're here to

to Yeah, we mean we mean business. I we

we had

uh our most successful Formula 1 season

in in the last few years.

We finished the year with a few podiums.

Uh

not going to lie, the start of this year

has been a bit of a struggle, and we've

probably hit a bit of a bump in the road

in in in that recovery.

Not all the recoveries are and

non-recoveries are smooth lines.

Sometimes you you go up, a bit down, and

then to go back up again.

Uh this year we we're going through a

little bit of a bump, but I'm very

confident that this is going to help the

team to change the necessary things that

need to be changed to

to to be successful again.

>> What do you think needs to be changed?

Is the equipment?

>> No, in the end it's Formula 1 teams are

massive structure. We are more than

1,300 people.

In order to extract the maximum and make

a performing car, we're talking about

tenths of a second. One or two tenths

make the difference between a good year

or a bad year, a good race or a bad

race.

Uh but yeah, you need to go back into

the

core part of the business and identify

where there's inefficiencies, where

there's places where

we should have done a better job.

Obviously, I'm not a team manager, I'm

not a team principal, I'm not a

businessman, I'm not a

financial guy, but I know that Williams

have a lot of good people up there that

have realized that

what we thought maybe was enough is

still not enough. And we are changing

the necessary things to to recover from

that bump. And look, I see this as a

good thing because probably if you don't

hit the bump

you would have stayed always with the

same kind of structure and the same way

of doing things. And sometimes you need

a small reminder that you need to keep

evolving and you need to keep

challenging the organization to to

improve.

>> How far is the gap in your estimation

between Williams and all the great work

you're doing and a and a

company or brand like a Mercedes or

Ferrari?

>> Not as far as it seems.

I think definitely

this year has proven that the top teams

are still the the top teams. We have

Mercedes, Ferrari, Red Bull, and McLaren

doing an exceptional job and they used

the change of regulations as an

opportunity to

even pull a bit of a gap onto the let's

say emerging teams like

Audi, Aston Martin, and Williams, I

would say.

Audi, Aston Martin, and Williams were

all teams that we're trying to bridge

that gap to the top teams. Now, in the

process of doing that, there's been a

change of regulations this year.

And

there needed to be so much change in the

sport with these

regulations that if anything

that has exposed who is a top team and

has the capacity of performing at a that

level and who is not yet there. And

thanks to that, in Williams we've

understood why we're still not there.

What's the gap? What's the real gap to

to to them?

And now what are the necessary changes

to to bridge that gap?

>> I I talked to

F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali. I've known

him for for many years. And I got his

perspective on the rule changes. But

from a driver perspective, how has it

impacted how you drive?

>> It's a different Formula 1. A Formula 1

that for sure has created some headaches

for us drivers.

Normally we are used to pushing flat out

the car and just leaning on it on the

limit

and see what lap time we can extract

from the car.

This year there's with the thing of them

all the battery management that we have

to do given the car is a lot more hybrid

to last year.

We're having to think a bit more while

driving. Where are you pushing? Where

are you not pushing? Where are you

willing to take a bit more risk and

where is more worth saving a bit of

battery to spend in some other place.

Personally, that suits me. Suits my way

of I'm a bit of an over-thinker, so I

like spending time thinking how can I

optimize my driving.

Um, at the same time

I love pushing flat out and I think the

sport has realized that we still need to

keep the core values of the sport, which

is make sure the drivers are pushing

flat out. So, there will be some

few changes, some tweaks to regulations

to make sure we're not as hybrid and we

are still pushing flat out as we should

be.

>> Wow, this is I've always identified with

you. I just love your intensity. I mean,

you're one of the most intense guys on

the grid. I love your attention to

detail. How do you continue

to get better at your level? Still a

young guy, but you're a veteran at the

same time.

>> Yeah, that's the weird thing about me.

I'm I'm 31 and sometimes in F1 I feel a

veteran, but then

you see the likes of Lewis and Fernando

and you feel young guy, you know? So,

it's that's the beauty of Formula 1.

There is

uh, guys at 19, 20 years old like Kimi

that are doing great. But then you see

Lewis at almost 40 year old doing great.

So, the life of a Formula 1 driver is

long. What I realize is that um, during

that life

you always keep getting better.

Experience is in in our sport is

experience if is a massive factor.

So, every single race that you do, you

learn something new. Um, the im-

important bit for it or the way I see it

is

you need to be open-minded to adapt and

change. If you are not open-minded to

adapt and change your driving style,

your way of working

every two or three years to challenge

yourself as an athlete, you're probably

going to stay behind. And I think the

greats are the ones that are able to

keep adapting, keep changing, and be

humble enough to know that maybe what

worked six years ago

might not be the reason why it should be

working now. And you might need to

change your driving or the way to

approach things.

>> Have Maybe you could explain to me um

how the these runs in motorsport happen.

I see what Kimi's doing. I look at

NASCAR with the what the likes of a

Denny Hamlin is doing of late, too. How

does that How does that zone happen?

>> I think

you cannot forget that uh in our sport

you need

we are

a part of of the performance. We are not

the only part, you know? We are

um

without a car, we cannot be successful,

you know? We The machine probably goes

first, and then goes the athlete. We are

all very

very, very similar in terms of talent

and speed. We need a car that first is

quick enough to win,

but then second, a car that suits us as

a driver, you know? And

you see it a lot with with completely

different drivers. You see cars that

suit the driver a lot, and the moment

they jump in,

they're quick. Other Other drivers that

uh

for whatever reason the car doesn't suit

their driving style,

and you look like a god in one car, and

then you look like you're struggling to

understand that other car.

There's a lot of It's a very, very

complex sport. It's It's very difficult

to explain in a conversation like this

because it's so technical. And to feel

at one with the car, you can be the best

version of yourself, and you can look

like a goat, like a legend, you know?

You can be so, so fast. But then

suddenly the car doesn't do exactly what

you want,

and you're not that impressive anymore

and it's all about

finding a way to adapt yourself to the

car but also adapting the car to

yourself and it's that constant battling

of how much do I need to change

for me to adapt to this car and how much

do I need to change the car to adapt to

me.

And once you have find that

bond with the car, you can go on to be a

have the yeah, a very confident run of

results.

>> You have a real special relationship

with your father who is a a champion in

his own right. What did he

What did he teach you and then how do

you put what those teachings into every

race you drive?

>> I think my dad the most important

lessons that I've learned from my dad is

is more than driving or

anything that to do with technical side

is is about the attitude.

Uh my dad being a double time world

champion four time Dakar winner

he was the one that Dakar with four

different car manufacturers.

Um so he's had to go through that

process of changing teams, adapting,

making the car competitive, making

himself adaptable.

I think the most important lesson is is

is adaptability but also

the attitude of how to build the team

around you, how to extract the maximum

out of the people you surround yourself

with and

uh

even if he would have been a

badminton, paddle, tennis player

I think in the end world champions are

champions because of the attitude, not

because of the talent. And my dad I

think had an incredible attitude towards

motorsports in general. He's super

passionate about what he does.

And me I've I've grown seeing that,

watching that um at home, seeing him on

phone calls, seeing him how he handles

his things, his teams.

And I only grow in admiration and and

and looking up to I think a very good

example.

>> You've brought that legacy and your your

winning mindset to Williams and I and

then I see what

you You as I follow the sport more in

recent years but how long Lewis spent

with Lewis Hamilton spent with uh you

know, his team before changing teams.

But still,

um do you see yourself long-term with

Williams? Is this where you retire and

you just

you're all in with them?

>> In my ideal world, yes. My ideal world

is

I build a winning team with Williams. We

go and win the first few races in a few

years. We go and

uh

win the first world championship for

Williams in in a long time.

And why not? Stay here winning until

it's time to call it a day. That would

be my ideal plan. Nothing would make me

happier

than achieving that goal. That's my

my my ideal scenario that I want to

um make sure we succeed together.

Uh nothing would make me happier. Now,

the world of motorsport keeps changing

every day, so I cannot put hand on paper

that that will be the case, but

in my head, in my ideal, that's what I'm

working towards.

>> One of the biggest changes is how

commercial F1 has gotten. Uh the

business has exploded in large part

because of what Stefano was doing, but

of course the amazing talents of you all

on the grid.

Does that put more pressure on you as a

driver? Like given all the sponsorship

and everything, all the obligations you

now have?

>> Um it does. It does. The world of

Formula 1 has changed a lot and with

that comes

a lot

much bigger demands of your time

to spend time with the partners, with

sponsors, with media.

Now, the F1 athlete is not only handling

his um

let's say his time around

how do I become a better athlete, but

also how do I find time

to manage all of this? How do I am I an

athlete,

a brand, a team ambassador, brand

ambassadors? How do I then go back to my

bike and ride tonight for a couple

hours? I think the management of time

is a skill now in Formula 1 because

if you have a good time management and a

good organization of your schedule

the world of Formula 1 has a potential

for you to to become

um

and have a a great own brand but a a

great Formula 1 team um

be good in media

and be an athlete. So, if you manage all

of them together, I think you can put

together a

yeah, a very busy life but a an exciting

one for sure.

>> Lastly, uh if we're having this

conversation again in 5 years right on

this pier

what will have you done in F1 that you

haven't done today?

>> In 5 years time, I would like to be

world champion by then and um yeah, I'm

not going to stop until I keep trying

and keep

believing in it and uh that's what I

wake up every morning thinking about and

what I go to sleep dreaming about. So,

yeah, it's in it's in I'm wired to to

now try and make that happen and I'm

yeah, not going to stop until I achieve

it and

Williams is a big part of that.

>> Well, it was a pleasure to spend some

time with you. I know you're going to

bike out of here. So, we'll let you go.

Thank you for joining us.