Carlos Sainz rejects Lewis Hamilton comparison after landmark Williams podium

Carlos Sainz quickly shut down a comparison to Lewis Hamilton after his Azerbaijan Grand Prix podium regarding his Ferrari replacement.

Sainz started second and finished third in Baku to record Williams' first podium since George Russell's second in the aborted 2021 Belgian GP, and first in a fully completed race since Lance Stroll's third eight years ago in the 2017 Azerbaijan race.

The Spanish racer was overcut by George Russell for second, but still landed a first podium for the team under James Vowles' leadership, landing a rostrum visit before Hamilton at Ferrari. 

Sainz was removed from his position at the Scuderia to make way for Hamilton for 2025, and although Hamilton won the Chinese Sprint and finished third in the Miami one, he remains without a grand prix podium 17 races into the season.

Hamilton has never failed to score a podium in a season across his F1 career, but in the aftermath of the race, Sainz simply shut down a question asked of him regarding beating the Briton to a Sunday top-three finish.

"What everyone else does is not my business, to be honest," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365, when asked about scoring a grand prix podium before Hamilton in 2025.

"What I care about is that the first opportunity that I had to score a podium with Williams, and the first opportunity Williams had to score a podium, we took it, we scored it, and there it is."

When the four-time grand prix winner was also asked about his comments regarding this podium being sweeter than his maiden rostrum at the 2019 Brazilian GP, Sainz added further detail about his settling-in period with the team.

"This one means even more just because a year ago when I put my bet on Williams, I said: "I’m going to this team because I truly believe in this project, and I truly believe that this team is on the rise," he said.

"I’m very comfortable in this working environment, and also very comfortable with everyone around me, and I have actually been pretty fast all year with the car.

"I think out of everyone that’s changed teams — which is not an easy task nowadays — I’ve been very competitive from the first race, very quick, but I didn’t have results with me.

"I didn’t have results to prove to myself, the team, and everyone that some good things were about to come. But, in the end, they did. 

"I think life has taught me many times that this sometimes happens — that you have a run of misfortune or bad performances, but then suddenly life gives you back if you keep working hard with something really sweet like this."