'Amazing result': George Russell makes Carlos Sainz comment after his first Williams F1 podium at Baku

Mercedes driver George Russell and Williams star Carlos Sainz returned to the podium for the first time together since the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix in Baku.

The Azerbaijan Grand Prix saw one of the most chaotic qualifying sessions of all time.

Unsurprisingly, Max Verstappen still managed to find a way to take pole position for Red Bull.

For the sixth time in his career, the Dutchman completed a Formula 1 grand slam, but it was the action that unravelled behind him that caught plenty of fans’ attention.

Carlos Sainz joined Verstappen on the front row, achieving his best qualifying result since joining Williams from Ferrari at the beginning of the season.

George Russell qualified fifth despite being under the weather throughout the weekend, missing all of his previous media commitments with a respiratory infection.

Russell got the better of Mercedes teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Racing Bulls star Liam Lawson, who both started in front of him, before overtaking Sainz to finish second.

Lando Norris could only finish seventh, while drivers’ championship leader Oscar Piastri’s uncharacteristic crash has brought Verstappen back into contention for the title.

A story emerged earlier in the week that Russell wasn’t the most popular driver at Williams during his three-year stint with the team.

But he was quick to send Sainz a message after he achieved their first podium since the British star finished second at Spa in 2021.

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George Russell congratulates Carlos Sainz after his Azerbaijan Grand Prix podium

The last time Williams secured a podium after a full-length race was in Baku eight years ago with Lance Stroll, as Russell’s previous achievement with the team came after a curtailed race in Belgium that lasted just a single lap.

Russell was asked about the race in his post-Grand Prix interview, via Sky Sports F1 (21/9 1:47 pm) and said: “Firstly, congrats to Carlos and Williams. An amazing result for us.

“For us, really happy to be back on the podium. It has been a bit of a rough weekend for me personally, but the car was great. Kimi in P4 as well, so happy with that.

“I was pretty glad when I saw the chequered flag, to be honest. Fortunately, I felt much better today than I felt on Friday and Saturday. Looking forward to a bit of rest now, but just happy with the result.

“For us as a team, trying to beat Ferrari in the constructors’ [championship], it was a good step towards that.”

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Carlos Sainz ‘extremely proud’ after Baku podium following 2025 Williams struggles

Sainz has moved up to 12th in the drivers’ championship with his first podium of the season, a point ahead of Lawson and Fernando Alonso, and a point behind Lance Stroll.

Considering that Alex Albon still has more than double his current points tally, it highlights how far Sainz still has to go to reach a level that he would be happy with.

Speaking after the race, Sainz admitted it was ‘even better than my first ever podium’, which came back at the 2019 Sao Paulo Grand Prix with McLaren.

Reflecting on his season up to this point, Sainz said: “I’m extremely proud of everyone at Williams for pushing through a very difficult year.

“We have proven to everyone the massive step we took compared to last year.

“We are on the rise and in the right direction. Unfortunately, with me, we had a lot of bad luck and incidents.

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

“It’s just life. Life sometimes brings you these bad moments to give you a very nice one.

“This tastes much better than any other thing I was expecting.

“It’s a life lesson to keep believing and trusting yourself and your team around you because sooner or later it always pays off.”