Williams F1 driver Carlos Sainz has advised 13-year-old academy driver Will Green to explore his own limits and those of the car while young, building confidence through trying. Green, who has won this year’s FIA Karting European Junior Championship, asked Sainz about his development in an interview released by the team on 21 September. Their conversation also covered handling the initial unfamiliarity of a future move from karting to single-seaters.
Finding the driving limit through trial and error
Motorsport.com quoted Sainz encouraging Green not to become overly conservative through fear of mistakes. He felt that attempting overtakes at this age, including higher-risk last-lap moves, could build experience. A successful risk could also increase confidence in one’s abilities. He stressed trying to avoid clearly unreasonable mistakes, distinguishing a willingness to try from acting blindly.
On changing forms of racing, Sainz described the move from karting to cars as natural for him. He recalled that unfamiliar operations such as changing gear made the first two laps feel strange, before the instinct to drive flat out gradually took over. He believed Green would also find his own approach after getting into a car and learning the new operations.
Green’s European title provides concrete context. Williams’s championship report on 3 August showed that at the final round in Kristianstad, Sweden, he qualified 15th, was 16th in the intermediate standings after the heats and took fourth in Super Heat B. He finished 12th in the final but ended the season on 305 points, 71 ahead of the runner-up. The title reflected work across the season, while his positions through the final round’s stages also illustrated experience of handling different competitive situations.
Green joined the Williams Driver Academy in December 2024 at the age of 11. The team’s biography says he began karting in 2019 and won the British IAME Mini Championship and a European IAME Mini title in 2024. The European Junior championship is another step in that progression. Williams describes its academy as developing drivers from karting through single-seaters while supporting abilities both on and off the track.
INKA SPORTS analysis: exploring ability and judging race situations develop together
Combining Sainz’s advice with Green’s title campaign reveals two tasks in junior development: learning through attempts what a driver can do, then judging when to use those abilities. Green’s 12th place in the final race still secured a comfortable championship margin, showing that a single result and a season’s outcome need separate assessment. Sainz’s description of the confidence gained from successful attempts explains why young drivers still need to expand their capabilities. The development to watch is a growing range of available driving choices and an ability to decide which suits the race in front of them.
Summary
Sainz framed his advice around the learning stage of a young driver’s career: be willing to try, experience adaptation and avoid clearly unreasonable mistakes where possible. For Green, already a European Junior champion, the next focus is continuing to build driving ability and race judgment. Karting results provide a starting point; a future move to single-seaters will require applying that experience to new driving tasks.
Further reading: Sainz’s career and driver profile.
