Carlos Sainz explains unusual Williams trap he avoided after 'weirdest' feeling

Carlos Sainz has explained how it would have been "very easy" to fall into a trap of giving up for Williams following a tricky start with the team. 

Joining from Ferrari, having been impressed by the project offered by boss James Vowles, Sainz was initially out-performed by team-mate Alex Albon, with the Thai driver in eighth on 54 points, with Sainz 16th on 16 points heading into the summer break after the Hungarian GP. 

However, in a remarkable reversal of form, Sainz rallied in the second-half of the season as Albon struggled himself, with a pair of podiums in Azerbaijan and Qatar, plus third in the US Grand Prix Sprint, hauling the Spanish racer up to ninth in the final standings, just nine behind Albon. 

His podium in Baku was the first for Williams in a proper race since Lance Stroll's at the same venue in 2017, with the team scoring 137 points to land fifth in the constructors'. In the seven seasons between 2018 and 2024, Williams scored just 84 points in total. 

Reflecting on his move to Williams, Sainz spoke candidly about his self-doubt after the team could not get a run of cleanly executed grands prix, but how a final push helped to unlock the Baku podium. 

"The toughest moment of the season was post the summer break, because I came back super fresh and full of energy, and did two very strong weekends at Zandvoort and Monza," Sainz exclusively tells RacingNews365. 

"They both ended with clashes, and the team had nothing to do with it. In the first half of the season, there were a lot of strategy and execution mistakes; we were simply not doing a good job in terms of executing weekends, and we came back after the summer break with a strong reset.

"I felt fresh, and ready to go, but now down to small misjudgements from my side and the people racing around me, we had potential P6, P7 in Zandvoort and Monza, and we went home with nothing, so the second-half started as bad as the first, but I had to say: 'Keep digging, the results need to come,', and then they came. 

"I was like: 'This is just not my year, it doesn't matter how much I do, how much I try, it was very easy to fall into the trap of just giving up and saying: 'Look, this year is complete write-off, I'll keep developing the car, developing myself with the team, but there is no chance I'm going to get good results this year because it is just someone up there has decided that 2025 is not my year to get results.'"

"Immediately after that, Baku came, and I got the podium, so it just shows you need to push one more time because you don't know that around the corner, there might be a good result. 

"I've had to dig deeper than ever before, and I think resilience is a massive thing when you are an athlete, and you have to be resilient to all these setbacks and keep trying different things.

"This year has tested me because the weirdest thing is that the pace was there from the beginning, the car was there from the beginning, but it took 10-12 races just to put something together."

Digging deeper than ever before

Sainz rallied to finish just nine points behind Albon after his early struggles, and believes the rewards at the end of the year were just for the resilience he showed through the tough times.

"Immediately after that, Baku came, and I got the podium, so it just shows you need to push one more time because you don't know that around the corner, there will be a good result," he continued.

"I've had to dig deeper than ever before, and I think resilience is a massive thing when you are an athlete, and you have to be resilient to all these setbacks and keep trying different things.

"This year has tested me because the weirdest thing is that the pace was there from the beginning, the car was there from the beginning, but it took 10-12 races just to put something together."