Carlos Sainz relays aiding Alexander Albon to beat Isack Hadjar in F1 Saudi Arabian GP which allowed Williams to be back in front of Haas.
After the contact between Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda, in some ways Williams’ Sainz breathed a sigh of relief as one of their close competitors were out of competition. It helped teammate Albon to move up inside the Top 10, ahead of Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar.
In fact, the Frenchman had to pass Fernando Alonso to slot behind the Williams pair. He went long on his stint unlike Sainz and Albon, who pitted slightly before. On fresher tyres, Hadjar had more pace to get the Thai at least for ninth place, if not the Spaniard running in eighth.
But with the DRS games being played around, Williams deployed Sainz to help Albon to tackle Hadjar. The Spaniard gave DRS to the Thai, which disallowed the Frenchman to pass. He had no chance eventually to pass, which allowed the Grove-based outfit to get back on Haas in the standings.
For Sainz, it was another good result with Williams as he gets to grips with the car. He had more pace than he showed considering he was helping Albon. “Yeah, honestly, solid race,” he said to the media. “Good tyre management on the medium, managing to dominate the first part of the race.
“Then we had to go through a lot of – well, we had a bit of a sloppy stop that cost me three or four seconds – but we managed to keep it cool, keep it under control, and from there on, just managing the hard tyre to the end, going through some slower cars. I think it was 12, 13 laps to go, the team asked me to give the DRS to Alex to make sure Hadjar didn’t have a chance of passing us.
“Bit of a tricky one because you always feel like it exposes you also, especially in a high-speed track where the DRS has a very big effect around here, and you always get a bit nervous about it because from there on, you cannot put a foot wrong if you do a mistake or hit a wall or whatever. But in the end, it worked.
“I could show my best pace. In the last lap, I pushed on a little pace, which is a really good sign. So, yeah, I’m very happy,” summed up Sainz, as Albon is taking pride in another points result for Williams to start the 2025 F1 season, where they have scored in four out of the five outings. He was pleased by the team effort after the Spaniard helped him out to keep Hadjar behind.
“I think we were fine,” said Albon to media. “For most of the race, we had pace in hand but we were just trying to manage the situation. We didn’t want to be singled out, we saw how quite dangerous this track can be, so we made sure not to be overtaken into Turn 1. I’m really happy with how we played it. I think, who knows where Isack would have finished if we didn’t do that. So, yeah, very happy.
“I think we’re doing a great job here. I mean Bahrain arguably if not for safety car, we should have scored points and we’ve had four good finishes in five races. So, I’m really proud of that as a team, I think we’ve come such a long way. As I said, we came back really strongly. It’s amazing that you can, because like in previous years, you did one mistake in the weekend, you weren’t scoring points.
“This year, it has been better like in Bahrain we started P15 and P16 and we almost scored, this weekend I started outside Top 10 and scored points, which is almost why sometimes, like [Saturday], when we don’t execute perfectly, it’s really frustrating. Because now is the time to score points, really.
“With a good start, we have to score points every weekend. We have had one of the strongest midfield cars, that’s for sure. I’m enjoying it, but we just have to be taking advantage of this situation,” summed up Albon as team boss James Vowles hailed the teamwork undertaken by the two drivers.
“Really great work by the team,” he said. “This was a well-earned, proper points finish, putting us fifth in the Constructors’ Championship. We are so fortunate to have two world-class drivers at the top of their game, and today you saw how that pays off. Today was about the team, not an individual, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
Here’s how F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out
