Carlos Sainz has spoken out on Lewis Hamilton after beating him to a historic podium in Azerbaijan
The Spaniard enjoyed a remarkable weekend in Baku, securing his first ever podium finish in a Williams car with third-place. It sparked wild celebrations in the Williams garage, as they recorded their first podium in a full-length grand prix since the same race in 2017.
Sainz had already impressed in qualifying, putting his car on the front row behind Max Verstappen, and he delivered a composed drive in the race. His 15-point haul lifts him up to 12th in the Drivers' Championship, while also strengthening Williams' grip on fifth place in the Constructors' Standings.
Sainz joined Williams this summer after four seasons with Ferrari, where he was replaced by seven-time world champion Hamilton. But the move has been difficult for the Briton, who was again eliminated in the second qualifying session on Saturday.
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After the race in Azerbaijan, Sainz was asked for a comparison between himself and Hamilton, but he refused to be drawn in.
He said: “What everyone else does is not my business, to be honest. What I care about is that the first opportunity that I had to score a podium with Williams, and the first opportunity Williams had to score a podium, we took it, we scored it, and there it is.”
The result was a huge relief for Sainz, who had not registered a single Grand Prix point in the six races before Sunday.
However, it has been a strong season for Williams overall.
The team have racked up 101 points, which is more than in their last seven campaigns combined.
Much of that success is due to Alex Albon, who sits eighth in the Drivers' Standings on 70 points, but in Baku it was Sainz that impressed.
He added: “I always said to the team from the beginning that whenever a first big opportunity of fighting for a podium comes, as long as we have everything under control and nothing goes wrong and we prove to everyone what we’re doing, and we get that podium, then I’ll be OK.
“And it’s exactly what ended up happening today.
"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.
"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.”
Topics: Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1, Motorsport
James Taylor