F1 stars discuss which teams they could join in secret chats away from prying eyes

Carlos Sainz admitted there is a location where Formula One stars secretly discuss their future. The Williams star has driven for five teams in the sport so far and is not certainly not a stranger when it comes to speculation about a seat on the grid.

Currently in the midst of his first season with the British team after he was replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton last year, he's been partnered up with Alex Albon but has endured a tricky campaign with just 16 points to his name after 13 races.

Sainz's departure from Ferrari came as a shock to the F1 world, especially after having a career-best year in 2024 where he finished fifth in the Drivers' Championship standings with 290 points, just two behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

However, a chance to acquire the seven-time world champion was an opportunity the Prancing Horse simply couldn't turn down. Speculation surrounding where Sainz would race next was strife and during an appearance on The High Performance Podcast, the 30-year-old said he had discussed his future with Albon before signing with the Grove-based team.

"I already knew Alex," the Spaniard said. "I had talked with him in the paddock. I remember a few times like, 'Are you coming or not?' I was like 'Probably, I think so.'" Sainz then told Jake Humphrey that the drivers' parade, when the stars of F1 are taken around the track on a truck before a race, is an ideal place for the racers to speak about their future away from watching eyes and ears.

He continued: "We always have those kind of conversations in the drivers parade. If it's silly season, we talk a bit about silly season and I think everyone at the time was asking me, 'Where are you going, what are you going to do?' and I must have talked with him about it."

With Sainz in a lowly 16th place in the standings, Albon sits eighth with 54 points to his name, just nine behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli. While the Williams pair look to enjoy a friendly relationship, the 'Smooth Operator' admitted they have no qualms about going to battle on the track.

"Don't underestimate that even Alex and myself when we put the helmet on, we want to beat each other as much as any other team-mate in the grid," he added. "It's just when we take our helmets off, we sit in that meeting and we give feedback about the car.

"A good thing that we managed to do is leave the ego aside, leave your personal interests aside and say, 'How do we make this car quicker as soon as possible?' For that, I'm more honest than I would be with him or other team-mates about what I feel on the car and he's more honest with me on the past of the car and where the car has ended up.

Sainz also opened up about feeling rocked by Ferrari's decision to replace him with the Brit. Admitting that he believed he was set to remain with the Italian team for the foreseeable future, it was a phone call that let him know of Frederic Vasseur's decision to part ways with him that left him "completely shocked."

"I received a phone call and I suddenly received the news," he explained on the podcast. "I was completely shocked. I went from believing I was going to be in Ferrari for a while to, ‘What am I going to do now?’

"It never occurred to me that that could happen." When asked whether he was given any reason over his departure, he answered: "No, not really. There weren’t many reasons. I’m not going to go a lot into the detail of those conversations.

"But I was like, ‘Okay now it’s my time to shine and to prove to everyone what I’m worth. It’s the most important moment of my life now.’"