Carlos Sainz hails hard work for F1 Qatar GP surprise podium, as he along with Alexander Albon and James Vowles celebrate Williams’ P5 in constructors’ championship.
On a circuit where Williams was not supposed to do any better than probably score handful of points, Sainz ended up on the podium after a quick stop in the pits and a good start to F1 Qatar GP. The Spaniard was up to fifth already after Lap 1 from eighth on the grid.
He gained a place on Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the pits and never lost it again. Sainz was able to handle the pace against the Italian on a circuit difficult to pass. There was late scare from Lando Norris, but he had enough at hand to register his second podium of 2025 F1 season.
It was unexpected result as he hailed the hard work. After qualifying, Sainz highlighted how he trialed a potential set-up for Qatar in simulator which worked during the weekend. “Yeah, I don’t know, I think it’s obviously partly due to—or mainly due to—the hard work I think everyone’s done trying to prepare this race after the very difficult weekend we had in Budapest, which is kind of, sort of, this long, medium-speed combined corners that we always seem to be very, very weak,” he said.
“We put together a plan with the team to try some different things in the simulator and in the factory to try and switch on the car for these kinds of track. And to be honest, right from the get-go in practice, the car was a lot better than expected, a lot more competitive. And then we did another couple of changes going into the main quali and the main race after our learnings from the Sprint that really switched on the car, especially in the race pace. Yesterday, we struggled a lot with front deg.
“Today, the car felt a lot better, and we went from seeing Antonelli checking out in the Sprint and giving us ten seconds, to all of a sudden, today having a chance to keep him behind, race him, and even, obviously, with the strategy thing of the McLarens also keep Lando behind. [The set-up here from Budapest was] very different. Very, very different.
“I had a few ideas for the team to try and simulate, or the team came up with some other ideas and together we put together, I think, a car that honestly since the first lap was a lot better than what we thought. Already in the simulator it felt OK, but you never really trust the simulator fully. You say, no, it cannot be this good. And suddenly from the first lap of FP1, I think I was trading P1s, P2s, and P3s with these guys, and I was like, yeah, this might be working. And then we did some good progress through the weekend.
“Then we executed a really good race, with a good start from P7 to P5, great pit stops, great strategy, great management of the gaps, and the tyre management that we have to do with cars that are a bit quicker than us around us, you know, they’re forcing us to push on that front left tyre, which here is never easy. We managed that really well, and that brought us the P3,” summed up Sainz, who noted that what he did in Qatar cannot be done at all the races.
The trial and error method will see failures at certain events, but when it works, it will reap rewards like it did in Qatar. “But it’s not possible because in order to make them, you need to know the car, and you need to try multiple things—trial and error,” explained Sainz. “You need to get it wrong many weekends to know that this doesn’t work, to then try the other direction that might work.
“And the other direction sometimes doesn’t work either. And you need to try a completely different thing and you make another mistake. So, I always say the same thing: it takes time. When you switch teams, it really, really takes time – and races. There is no testing. So, you need to try things on a race weekend and you need your first 10-15 races to understand these kinds of things—your simulator sessions to try things. And you need the team to be brave.
“You need also people to be bold and come up with ideas. And in the end, it always pays off. There are no secrets in this sport. I think hard work and good understanding, good conclusions always pay off. And to be honest, the second half of the year, we are performing at a very high level,” summed up Sainz, who reflected on the podium finish when compared to one in Baku.
There is no doubt, the one in Baku felt better considering it was his first with Williams and having had the mindset that he may not be on the podium soon after leaving Ferrari, the Spaniard managed to do so before his replacement Lewis Hamilton did – and now he has two against his name.
“It feels different,” said Sainz. “Baku was a bit of a relief because I’d had such a difficult 10 races. 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. And here, it’s more a combination of hard work and understanding. I’m 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.
“And 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. And together with that relief that I was talking about before. 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. And, yeah, more proud than happy. And obviously, also happy,” summed up Sainz, as teammate Albon missed out on points after finishing 11th. He said his strategy was undone due to early safety car. Having started on the hard compound, he thought he would finish well on the medium.
But the early stop left him no way of undercutting anyone. But he was happy to see Sainz on podium and that Williams secured P5 in the constructors’ championship with 137 points against its name. Even Sainz moved up to ninth in the drivers’ standings with 64 points behind Albon on 73.
“Starting on the hards today, we were planning on trying to benefit from some clean air with those tyres, but the safety car happened early on and we had to pivot strategies,” said Albon. “Having started on the hards we were out of position and had to finish the race on mediums which wasn’t ideal for our strategy.
“We maybe didn’t have the pace to get through all the cars in front, but I think we left something on the table as we had a good car today, as Carlos demonstrated as well. The team secured P5 in the Constructors’ Championship which is massive – a big, huge well done to everyone on the team as this was a big step forward for us this year and something that we should all be proud of.”
Team boss Vowles added: “Exceptional. Really fantastic performance from Carlos and the team when it counted and every detail adds up. Getting on the podium by milliseconds really is such a just reward for the incredible work the whole team is putting in this year. I was proud of Carlos and the team when we got our first podium in Baku; the second is a dream come true, but perhaps more importantly at a track that was almost our worst last year. And we’ve come back, we’ve reinvented ourselves and the result is there for everyone to see.
“For Alex, we will come back fighting in Abu Dhabi. We haven’t got it all together this weekend, but I’ll reiterate that his performance across the season is why we’ve secured fifth in the constructors’ championship today. And more so than that, his pace is still there. We just need to bring it all together. Finally, fifth would have been a dream come true just 12 months ago when we were languishing in ninth in the Constructors’ Championship.”
Here’s how F1 Qatar GP panned out
