Carlos Sainz Comments After Rocketing Williams Back Onto The Podium

Carlos Sainz was naturally thrilled to be back on the podium after a long race battling to stay ahead of the Mercedes Rookie, Kimi Antonelli. In his chat with James Hinchcliffe post-race Carlos appeared to truly understand the gravity of what this means for not just himself, but his new home at Williams.

"Honestly I can not describe how happy I am and how good this feels. It's even better than my first ever podium. We've been fighting hard all year and finally today we proved that when we have the speed... we've had it all year... and everything comes together, we can do some amazing things together. Today we nailed the race. We managed to beat a lot of cars that yesterday I wasn't expecting to beat."Carlos Sainz, Williams, P3

Sainz has been dealing with issues converting an arguably fast Williams car into strong finishes for the team. He has not even scored a point since June at the Canadian Grand Prix.

"We've proven to everyone the massive step that we've taken compared to last year. We are on the rise. We are [going] the right direction. Unfortunately, with me, we've had a lot of bad luck and incidents making it difficult to turn all of that pace into results. Now, I understand why it all happened. It's just life."Carlos Sainz, Williams, P3

A Massive Leap forward for Williams Racing

Formula 1 fans, teams, and drivers have known all year that the development of the 2025 Williams car certainly brought their team back into the conversation. While they haven't fought for podiums until this point in the season, Williams is squarely at the front of the 'mid field'.

As a driver who was not only new to Williams but faced with the task of racing against Alex Albon, a strong senior member of the team, Carlos was waiting for that moment for his team, the car, and his skill to gel into one for a strong finish like Baku.

Alex Albon has scored points in 11 out of the 17 grand prix's that have been held this season, compared to his three at this point of the season in 2024. Now, with Carlos' third place finish, Williams sits solidly in fifth in the World Constructor's Championship.

WIlliams' Team Principal, James Vowles has also hit a massive milestone today, his first podium since becoming the team leader in 2023. This is his first podium as a team principal at any team.

"Extraordinary. I've had a lot of podiums in my career, but this one will stay with me forever. It means a huge amount for me from where the team was on our journey to where we are going. Carlos earned it today. This wasn't luck, this was him driving his socks off all weekend."James Vowles, Williams Team Principal

Vowles admitted that throughout the race, he was slightly nervous about the Mercedes duo and knew that Carlos couldn't defend against both of the drivers. However, a great result isn't the only thing that James cares about. He admitted that 'confidence' and 'momentum' are his focus for both Sainz and Albon.

For the rest of the season, James is still looking for an overall improvement for the team. Their main focus? Tire management, especially on qualifying single lap pace.

Williams Racing is facing their most successful weekend in just under a decade, even with Albon finishing outside the points. For the final 7 races of the season, they will be riding that momentum for respect, but more importantly, money and testing time out of their present 5th place position.