Sainz soaring after hard-fought Williams podium

Carlos Sainz has fought throughout his Formula 1 career, and he did just that to give Williams a first podium in four years.

Sainz was the feel-good story of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after finishing an impressive third.

It was his first in Williams colours after being forced out of Ferrari following the arrival of Lewis Hamilton.

What made the result even sweeter is the journey, as the Spaniard has gone from fighting for regular podiums and wins last year to struggling to score points in 2025.

Making the pain more severe was witnessing settled teammate Alex Albon shine, scoring 70 points, 54 more than Sainz.

Bad luck, incidents, and technical issues have hurt Sainz, but at Baku he finally had his moment.

Sainz brilliantly put the Williams on the front row in a dramatic qualifying session and held firm in the race with only George Russell’s Mercedes getting past.

The “Smooth Operator” is no stranger to against-the-odds podiums and said this was as special as his first in Brazil 2019 when McLaren was a midfield battler.

Honestly, I cannot describe how happy I am, how good this feels,” he said. 

“This is even better than my first ever podium that I did. 

“We’ve been fighting hard all year and finally today, we just proved that when we have the speed — we’ve had it all year — and everything comes together, we can do some amazing things together and we nailed the race. Not one mistake.

“We managed to beat a lot of cars that yesterday I wasn’t expecting to beat.”

Adding to the satisfaction for Sainz is the podium brings to life the belief he had in Williams.

The Spaniard was hot property on the driver market and had many options from Alpine to Audi, but chose Williams, which raised the eyebrows of many.

The eighties and nineties powerhouse has only won one race since 2004, thanks to cult hero Pastor Maldonardo.

Since 2017, Williams has only had one podium next to its name, and it even had an Astrix next to it.

Russell was recorded with second at the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix after a brilliant qualifying lap in the rain, but infamously, not a single racing lap took place.

With Williams not finishing higher than seventh since 2017, but Sainz believed in what James Vowles was building and it has paid off.

“I’m extremely proud of everyone at Williams for pushing through our very difficult year,” he said. 

“I think we’ve proven to everyone the massive step that we took compared to last year. We are on the rise.

“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.

“Unfortunately, with me, we’ve had a lot of bad luck, a lot of incidents — very difficult to convert all that pace into results. 

“But now I understand why it all happened, because the first podium needed to come like this. 

“It’s just life, you know? 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. 

“It is 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.”

Sainz’s brilliance has pushed Williams back into the top five of the constructors for the first time since 2017, and with the breakthrough out of the way, it will be fascinating to see what is next.

Photo by Andy Hone/LAT Images

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