Williams driver Carlos Sainz expressed that his third place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was even more satisfying than his first podium in Formula 1. Sainz, 31 years old, has achieved 28 podium finishes in 11 seasons in F1, including four victories as a Ferrari driver. His first podium was at the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix, while competing for McLaren. He joined Williams at the beginning of this season after being replaced at Ferrari by Lewis Hamilton, and described his first podium with his new team as a moment full of emotion.
Sainz highlighted the team’s hard work throughout the year and the ability to achieve great things when everything aligns. Sainz started from second on the grid, taking advantage of a chaotic qualifying session on the Baku street circuit on Saturday. He maintained a solid performance throughout the 53 laps of the race, losing only one position to George Russell’s Mercedes, who used a different strategy.Honestly, I can’t describe how happy I am, how good this feels. This is even better than my first podium.
Carlos Sainz
After Williams focused its efforts on 2026 at the beginning of the season, Sainz anticipates that the podium in Baku could be the highlight of his debut year with the team. The Spanish driver believes that Las Vegas could be another opportunity to get a good result, although he acknowledges the difficulty of the situation.We are on the rise; we are going in the right direction. Unfortunately, we have had a lot of bad luck, many incidents, but now I understand why it all happened, because the first podium had to come like this. It’s just life, you know?
Carlos Sainz
