Carlos Sainz has revealed how Williams defied the odds with his and the team’s second Formula 1 podium of the year in the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Grove-based squad entered the weekend in Doha with very low expectations, owing to its experiences on circuits of a similar profile.
But in the Sprint on Saturday, Sainz popped up in eighth place to score one point, and followed it up with seventh in qualifying for the Grand Prix a few hours later.
It might be fair to say the team would have settled for a similar result, but Sainz produced a sterling drive to leapfrog McLaren’s Lando Norris after the second stint to take third place.
After the race, Sainz further explained how changes made via its learnings from August’s Hungarian Grand Prix led to a significant upturn in fortunes.
“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 told media including Motorsport Week.
“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 10 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.”
Sainz explains difference between Baku and Qatar podiums
Sainz’s third place was the second of his Williams career, having ended a period of apparent lucklessness to score his first podium for the team in Baku in September.
The result also confirmed Williams’ cementation as the ‘best of the rest’ and F1’s midfield supremos by securing fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
The Spaniard explained the differences in how both top-three finishes felt, dubbing his first in Azerbaijan as more of a “relief”, while Qatar was a testament to the team’s hard work.
“It feels different,” he said. “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 pitstops were perfect. Everyone was perfect, and it’s exactly what we all needed.”
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