Carlos' issue is that his egos getting in the way. The cousin manager has told him he's better and more respected than he actually is. He can't go off grid for a year and expect to make it back into the kind of team he wants because he's just not good enough. No championships, 3 wins despite 4 years in a Ferrari. He'd be coming back to a midfield team... and he's got the choice of the midfield teams right now. Plus if one of them nails the regs and is competitive, you'll see better drivers after those seats!
Suck it up and take the Williams seat. Yes Alpine might be better if they get the Merc engine, but there's every chance they decide actually they need to keep a french factory for appearances sake. Alpine can afford to drag signing the other driver as long as they like since they've locked Pierre in and the alternatives aren't on the grid - if they tell their second choice Jack Doohan in February that he's driving, he'll be buzzing. Carlos cannot wait that long, because Williams isn't going to wait that long before just nabbing Esteban and getting it over and done with.
Yeah, one thing is that I don't think where he signs is actually his decision. He might say what he prefers, but he'll go where Senior says. (or they manipulate him to think that's what he wants)
Which I still think should have been Sauber/Audi. If he had an actual chance at Mercedes (the real one, not the one with engine only
), then ok, I'd understand the hesitation. But if he is choosing from Williams / Alpine / Haas, then Audi would be the best as there he could actually be a part of development and could be a hero if the team manages to get good.
The thing with Alpine, even if they get Merc engine, they will never be Merc's priority and the engine itself might not mean anything.
A picture speaks a thousand words.
