Sainz celebrates proudest day at Williams after perfectly executed Qatar podium

Carlos Sainz describes his third place at the Qatar Grand Prix as his proudest day for Williams, as he secured his second podium in his debut season with the team.

Williams confirmed fifth place in the constructors’ championship as a result of Sainz’s finish at the penultimate round, as the Spaniard’s second-half resurgence continued. The Spaniard scored 48 of his 64 points in the past seven races, starting with a podium in Azerbaijan that he then matched in Qatar.

“Baku was a bit of a relief because I’d had such a difficult 10 races,” Sainz said. “I was very quick in the first few races, but always things happening to me. No results coming my way. One of those seasons.

“I think in the career of an F1 driver, you always have years where, for some reason, things don’t come your way. Doesn’t matter if it’s luck, racing incidents, whatever. It just never comes together.

“But Baku was a relief – as soon as I got a chance to fight for a podium, I took it, and I gave the team the podium that I felt we needed and we deserved. Here, it's more a combination of hard work and understanding.

“Extremely proud of the team because we've also struggled a bit at the beginning of the year with race execution, team calls, quali execution. This weekend, everyone's done a perfect job. Also, the pit stops were perfect. Everyone was perfect, and it's exactly what we all needed.

“I think it’s my proudest day in Williams. Happiest? Maybe Baku, because I was just so happy to get my first podium for the team. Together with relief … This is just… I think I feel really proud of everyone. Just very proud of myself, but mainly the whole team for the weekend that we’ve executed. More proud than happy – obviously, also happy.”

Sainz says the pride stems from how uncompetitive Williams expected to be, and how the team turned around its form on similar circuits.

“I’m so happy. So proud of the whole team for what we’ve done today because we came into this weekend thinking it was going to be the most difficult weekend of the year and suddenly, we came out with a podium out of it," he said.

“We nailed the race pace. I was super quick, much quicker than expected. We nailed the strategy. We nailed the tire management, nailed the start, nailed all the defending and management, and that brought us an unexpected podium. I cannot be more proud.

“That’s why we got everything right today. We had a tough first half of the season where things didn’t come together, but we improved in so many areas during the year. Today, there were a few opportunities out there to grab, and we grabbed all of them by executing a perfect race. Honestly, I’m over the moon with this podium because I absolutely didn’t expect it.”