‘I absolutely didn’t expect it’ – Sainz ‘over the moon’ with podium finish in Qatar

Carlos Sainz achieved his second podium finish with Williams in superb fashion at the Qatar Grand Prix, keeping Lando Norris at bay on the final laps to finish the race in third.

As the sole Williams driver to progress to Q3, the Spaniard was already in a strong position to bring home a decent points haul, but it was clear that more was on the table on the opening lap – Isack Hadjar and George Russell both lost positions, giving Sainz the chance to improve to P5 early on.

The team then made the correct strategy call and called him into the pits during the Safety Car period. A much-needed quick stop allowed him to leapfrog fourth-placed Kimi Antonelli, who suffered a slow getaway after his own stop.

With overtaking notoriously difficult at the Lusail International Circuit, Sainz was able to maintain his position and found himself ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris after the Briton was forced to pit later than his competitors due to their alternative strategy.

The Standings leader got within DRS range of Sainz on the final lap after he passed a struggling Antonelli, but it proved to be too late and the Williams driver finished on the podium for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

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

“We nailed the race pace – I was super quick, much quicker than expected. We nailed the strategy, we nailed the tyre management, nailed the start, nailed all the defending and that brought us an unexpected podium so I could not be prouder.”

Despite reporting late problems with understeer, his impressive drive secured P5 in the Constructors’ Championship for the Grove-based outfit, marking their highest finish since 2016.

With Sainz’s team mate Alex Albon narrowly missing out on the points in P11, he was keen to emphasise that his rapid pit stops were what made the difference amid remarkably tight competition.

He said: “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’ve improved in so many areas through 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.”