Carlos Sainz is under a huge spotlight — arguably more than in his Ferrari days — after joining Williams this season. Many in the paddock are keen to see how the Spaniard performs for a midfield outfit. The hope is that he would inspire Williams to climb up the pecking order in the long term.
While Sainz struggled adjusting to his new machinery in his first few races, he seems more at ease with the FW47 now. He has managed to out-qualify his successor at Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, in two consecutive races.
Sainz also secured his first points finish at the Saudi Arabian GP last weekend. Amid that fighting P8 finish in Jeddah, Sainz also received praise for playing the team game brilliantly by helping his teammate Alex Albon finish right behind in ninth.
The Thai-British driver was under immense pressure from Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar during the race. Seemingly struggling for pace, Albon would have been unable to keep Hadjar behind him, had he not received the help of Sainz’s DRS.
By driving a tad slower, Sainz ensured Albon stayed in his DRS range throughout the second stint of the race. However, he let the #23 driver fend for himself on the final lap of the Grand Prix, which could’ve let Hadjar overtake him. So, why did he do so?
The Madrid-born driver was perhaps trying to go for the fastest lap of the Grand Prix. While he fell short by almost seven-tenths of a second, F1 content creator Matt Gallagher feels Sainz wanted to make a point and showcase the kind of pace he had left in the tank.
“Sainz said at the end of the race that we had enough pace to keep Hadjar at bay anyway,” Matt said on the Paddock Project podcast.
“I don’t know if Albon did. I think Sainz did, and he wanted to make a point on that final lap when he just left Alex for dust to set a really fast lap right at the end,” he added.
It was evident that Sainz was driving slowly to help his teammate keep Hadjar behind them and secure a double points finish for Williams. Hadjar’s teammate, Liam Lawson, also joined this train of cars toward the closing stages of the race. So, both Williams cars were under threat of being overtaken by the Racing Bulls.
Crucial calls on the radio leading to a double-points finish for @WilliamsRacing
Watch Williams’ Jeddah excellence in full #F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/MS80XcaSXI
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 24, 2025
Sainz eventually finished a whopping 25 seconds behind Hamilton, who most likely would have finished P7 even if Sainz had pushed the FW47 to its maximum potential.
The Spaniard stated after the race that it was a calculated decision not to push, as they were realistically not going to bridge the 12-second gap with Hamilton’s Ferrari in seventh. So Sainz was happy to help Albon and bring home a solid result for Williams.
“I think today, honestly, we managed to nail a very good race, and on top of that, managed to help Alex to make sure he was getting in the points,” said Sainz in his post-race interview. “So, very happy we managed to execute a very good race”.
Albon also praised the performance of the team, hinting that he was happy with what Sainz did. The Spaniard has been showing his strategic acumen right from the get-go at the Grove-based team, even though he wasn’t fully comfortable in the car to eke out strong results.
Albon’s outstanding P5 finish at the season-opening Australian GP also had the Spaniard’s strategic input. Having experienced the rainy conditions in Melbourne, Sainz helped the team make the right call on when they should pit Albon for intermediate tires. Albon went in when the inclement weather was returning in the final stages of the race.
Carlos Sainz was calling the shots on the Williams tyre strategy as Alex Albon took P5 pic.twitter.com/ryQCzWqOrA
— Autosport (@autosport) March 16, 2025
“His insight was incredibly useful on that transition to the inter,” Team Principal James Vowles said after the Australian GP.
“You saw a number of teams— ‘We’re not sure, do we try and hang it out?’ and Carlos was adamant: ‘You won’t survive on that in the last few corners.’ And he was spot on. He helped drive us towards that,” he added.
So far, Sainz and Albon have been working well together to do the best they can for Williams. However, if Sainz were to pull off more moves such as what he did on the last lap in Saudi Arabia, leaving Albon to fend for himself, it could potentially trigger an intra-team rivalry.
That is something Vowles would be wary of.
