Carlos Sainz declared his maiden podium for Williams better than
his first in F1 after finishing a jubilant third in the Azerbaijan
Grand Prix. From a stunning second in qualifying at the Baku Street
Circuit, as he kept his head whilst chaos ensued all around him,
Sainz drove faultlessly to claim his first podium since his final
race with Ferrari in Abu Dhabi at the end of last season. It
brought to an end a disappointing campaign with Williams. The
Spanish driver had scored just 16 points in 16 races before
collecting 15 for this performance. For Williams, it was the team's
first podium from a full grand prix – George Russell was second in
the rain-destroyed Belgian GP in 2021 – since Lance Stroll was
third in Azerbaijan eight years ago. "Honestly, I cannot describe
how happy I am, how good this feels," said Sainz. "It tastes even
better than my first podium that I did [third with McLaren in
Brazil in 2019]. "We've been fighting hard all year, and finally
proved today 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, not one mistake, and we
managed to beat a lot of cars that yesterday I wasn't expecting to
beat." Sainz declared himself "extremely proud of everyone at
Williams for pushing throughout a very difficult year". He added:
"We've proven to everyone the massive step we've taken compared to
last year. We are on the rise, in the right direction.
"Unfortunately, with me, we've had a lot of bad luck, a lot of
incidents, and it's been very difficult to turn all that pace into
results, but now I understand why it all happened because the first
podium needed to come like this. "It's just life. Life sometimes
brings you those bad moments to bring you a very nice one, and this
tastes much better than anything I was expecting. "It's a life
lesson, to keep believing, trusting yourself, your team around you,
your procedures, because sooner or later, it always pays off."
his first in F1 after finishing a jubilant third in the Azerbaijan
Grand Prix. From a stunning second in qualifying at the Baku Street
Circuit, as he kept his head whilst chaos ensued all around him,
Sainz drove faultlessly to claim his first podium since his final
race with Ferrari in Abu Dhabi at the end of last season. It
brought to an end a disappointing campaign with Williams. The
Spanish driver had scored just 16 points in 16 races before
collecting 15 for this performance. For Williams, it was the team's
first podium from a full grand prix – George Russell was second in
the rain-destroyed Belgian GP in 2021 – since Lance Stroll was
third in Azerbaijan eight years ago. "Honestly, I cannot describe
how happy I am, how good this feels," said Sainz. "It tastes even
better than my first podium that I did [third with McLaren in
Brazil in 2019]. "We've been fighting hard all year, and finally
proved today 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, not one mistake, and we
managed to beat a lot of cars that yesterday I wasn't expecting to
beat." Sainz declared himself "extremely proud of everyone at
Williams for pushing throughout a very difficult year". He added:
"We've proven to everyone the massive step we've taken compared to
last year. We are on the rise, in the right direction.
"Unfortunately, with me, we've had a lot of bad luck, a lot of
incidents, and it's been very difficult to turn all that pace into
results, but now I understand why it all happened because the first
podium needed to come like this. "It's just life. Life sometimes
brings you those bad moments to bring you a very nice one, and this
tastes much better than anything I was expecting. "It's a life
lesson, to keep believing, trusting yourself, your team around you,
your procedures, because sooner or later, it always pays off."
The post Carlos Sainz issues 'on the rise' warning after ending Williams podium drought appeared first on RacingNews365.