‘This one means even more:’ Carlos Sainz earns surprise first podium for Williams

Photo Credit: Williams Racing

Top-3 finishes came as no surprise to Carlos Sainz over his last four seasons in Formula 1, standing on the podium 25 times with Scuderia Ferrari from 2021 through 2024. Before joining the sport’s most successful team, Sainz had a podium finish in each of his two seasons at McLaren. However, his third-place finish for Williams on Sunday was the most meaningful for the Spaniard.

“This one means even more just because, obviously, a year ago when I put my bet on Williams, and I said I’m going to this team because I truly believe in this project, and I truly believe that this team is on the rise,” said Carlos Sainz after Sunday’s race. “I’m very comfortable in this working environment, also very comfortable with everyone around me.”

Sainz was put in a tough position last season when his four-year employer, Ferrari, announced that seven-time World Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton would be joining the team to race alongside Charles Leclerc. Sainz, who collected over 900 points and four race wins, including two in his final season with Ferrari, was left without a seat on the 2025 F1 grid.

The 31-year-old was recognized as one of the sport’s most improved drivers in each of his four seasons with Ferrari. During the 2024 season, Sainz’s signature became a hot commodity for teams looking to fill a seat or add a more talented racer.

When Williams Racing team principal James Vowles approached Sainz, he was immediately impressed with the British team’s project for 2025 and beyond. Sainz put pen to paper on a two-year contract with Williams on July 29, 2024.

"Carlos joining Williams is a strong statement of intent from both parties,” said Vowles last July. “Carlos has demonstrated time and again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with race-winning pedigree, and this underlines the upwards trajectory we are on. Carlos brings not just experience and performance, but also a fierce drive to extract every millisecond out of the team and car; the fit is perfect.”

Sainz would join long-time Williams No. 1 driver Alex Albon to form one of the better driver lineups on the grid. While the talent behind the wheel was there, Vowles and his team would need to put together a car that allowed Sainz and Albon to race to the best of their abilities, something the team had struggled with in recent years. Over the last three seasons, Williams had finished ninth, seventh and 10th in the World Constructors’ Championship.

While the car showed promise early in 2025, it was the team’s newest addition, Sainz, who got off to a slow start. In two of his first four races with Williams, the 31-year-old did not finish and only recorded one point. It seemed as though Sainz had found his groove during the next four races, finishing in the points each time, including an eighth-place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in May, his best result for Williams prior to Sunday’s race. From Rounds 9 through 13, Sainz struggled mightily, registering one point and failing to start the Austrian Grand Prix.

Meanwhile, across the garage, Albon was having much more success. Despite failing to finish three races in a row, the Thai driver recorded 70 points and four fifth-place finishes through Round 16. Sainz had just 19 points through the first 16 races, which included three points after finishing sixth in the Belgian Grand Prix Sprint Race.

"I have actually been pretty fast all year with the car," Sainz said on Sunday. "I think out of everyone that's changed teams -- which is not an easy task nowadays -- I've been very competitive from the first race, very quick, but I didn't have results with me. I didn't have results to prove to myself, the team, and everyone that some good things were about to come. But, in the end, they did.

"I think life has taught me many times that this sometimes happens -- that you have a run of misfortune or bad performances, but then suddenly life gives you back if you keep working hard with something really sweet like this."

Sainz found sweetness at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku this past weekend.

It all started with an impressive qualifying performance from the Spaniard on Saturday.

Sainz was breathing a sigh of relief when the final moments of the first qualifying session were cut short thanks to a red flag. The Williams’ driver was sitting in 14th and at risk of being eliminated if two other drivers bested his lap time. A much better Q2 set Sainz up for a run at one of the top few rows on the grid. Q3 became a story of its own with multiple red flags and spatters of rain on the circuit. Sainz was on provisional pole when the session was paused with just over seven minutes to go after his former teammate, Leclerc, crashed into the wall at Turn 15. Sainz was still on pole when a second red flag was waved after Championship leader, Oscar Piastri, hit the wall at Turn 3. As time expired on Q3, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, the eventual race winner, would narrowly snatch pole away from Sainz.

"I’ve been putting good laps together this year in Qualifying – it hasn’t been my weakness or my issues at all,” Sainz said after qualifying on Saturday. “Today, we proved that the speed of this car and this team is there and delivering in Qualifying when it counts.”

However, Sainz admitted his doubts to reporters about whether or not a podium finish would be possible given the speed of the cars behind him. In two of his last four trips to Baku, Sainz finished 18th last season and crashed in 2022.

Sainz would get away well from P2, slotting behind Verstappen, who would run away with the win. The 31-year-old spent the first half of the race in second, before making his only pit stop on Lap 27. However, due to strong driving and skillful maneuvering through the pit lane, Mercedes’ George Russell claimed second place.

Sainz would do well to hold off Russell’s teammate, rookie Kimi Antonelli, for third place and a spot on the podium. This was the Spaniard’s best race result in his 17 races with Williams. Sainz’s result was the first Top-3 finish for Williams since Russell placed second in the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix. It also meant that Sainz earned his first Grand Prix podium finish with Williams before the driver who replaced him at Ferrari, Hamilton, did with his new team.

"Life just sometimes brings you those bad moments to give you a very nice one, and this stays much better than any other thing that I was expecting,” Sainz said after the race. “So, just a life lesson, to keep believing, keep trusting yourself, your team around you, your procedures, everything that you're doing -- because sooner or later, it always pays off.

"We had our chance starting from P2. "Probably if you asked many of us yesterday, we didn't believe the podium was actually achievable with so many fast cars behind us on the grid. But I think we've had good pace this year, we just didn't have many opportunities to show it. Today we had a very good opportunity to show our very good pace, and we managed to stay on the podium."

"I think a podium -- and more importantly a podium where it's not weather or safety car to put us there -- would have been a dream for anyone in the team," Vowles said in an interview with Sirius XM. "[Carlos] earned it today -- well done to him. I think he has shown the world why he's here and I think it ratifies his decision to be here as well."

While his podium finish came as a surprise to himself, his team and most fans, Sainz now has the confidence to continue delivering these types of results for Williams, something he did often for Ferrari.