Carlos Sainz says many individuals at Williams would have doubted that he may convert his front-row begin right into a podium end earlier than his breakthrough efficiency on the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Sainz began second in Baku and completed third behind runaway winner Max Verstappen and George Russell, who used another technique to run lengthy and overcut the Williams driver for the runner-up end. The Spaniard needed to take up stress for Andrea Kimi Antonelli within the second Mercedes deep into the second stint of the race, however a wonderfully judged technique secured him a spot on the podium.
Sainz had been assured on Saturday evening that he may take residence a trophy, however with each Mercedes drivers having been set to start out within the prime 5, each McLaren drivers within the prime 10 and each Ferrari drivers within the prime 12, he admitted after the race that his view wouldn’t have been shared by everybody on the workforce.
“Most likely in the event you requested many people yesterday, we didn’t consider the rostrum was really achievable with so many quick automobiles behind,” he mentioned. “However I believe we’ve had good tempo this 12 months, we simply didn’t have many alternatives to indicate it.
“I all the time mentioned to the workforce from the start that at any time when a primary massive alternative of combating for a podium comes – so long as we’ve got all the pieces below management and nothing goes fallacious and we show to everybody what we’re doing – and we get that podium, then I’ll be OK. It’s precisely what ended up occurring at this time.
“We had our likelihood ranging from P2. As we speak we had an excellent alternative to indicate our superb tempo, and we managed to remain on the rostrum. Solely George managed to beat us with superb tempo, however it was a really well-executed race.”
Though he finally gave option to Russell, Sainz proved his qualifying tempo was no fluke. Simon Galloway/Getty Photos
The consequence was solely Williams’s fourth podium within the final 10 years and its first podium because the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix, the place no racing laps have been accomplished in what was a completely washed-out race. The workforce’s final podium trophy from a race that went the space was taken by Lance Stroll on the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Whereas Sainz stood on the rostrum final November and received the final of his 4 victories so far final October – each in his ultimate season with Ferrari – the 31-year-old mentioned his first in Williams colours was probably the most significant of his profession.
“100% this one means much more simply due to, clearly, a 12 months in the past after I put my guess on Williams and I mentioned I’m going to this workforce as a result of I actually consider on this challenge and I actually consider that this workforce is on the rise,” he mentioned. “I’m very snug on this working atmosphere, additionally very snug with everybody round me, and I’ve really been fairly quick all 12 months with the automobile.
“I believe out of everybody that’s modified groups – which isn’t a simple process these days – I’ve been very aggressive from the primary race, very fast, however I didn’t have outcomes with me. I didn’t have outcomes to show to myself, the workforce and everybody that some good issues have been about to come back. However in the long run they did.
“I believe life has taught me many occasions that this generally occurs – that you’ve a run of misfortune or dangerous performances, however then all of a sudden life provides you again, in the event you hold working laborious, with one thing actually candy like this.”
