Williams reveal Carlos Sainz 'reset' meeting before Baku heroics

Williams team principal James Vowles has revealed that he had a meeting with Carlos Sainz on media day ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, deeming it a "reset point". 

Sainz and Vowles went for dinner in Baku ahead of Sainz's heroics in both qualifying and the grand prix. 

The Spaniard delivered a sublime performance in tricky conditions to qualify in second, having been on provisional pole for much of Q3. 

He backed it up by converting second on the grid into third in the race, marking an emotional moment in what has been a difficult season for Sainz. 

Moving from Ferrari to Williams was always going to be a challenge for the 31-year-old, who has taken time adjusting to being back in the midfield. 

Luck has not been on Sainz's side, although Alex Albon has largely out-performed him across the campaign. His Baku podium represented his first points since Canada, ending a six-race streak without finishing in the top 10.

His meeting with Vowles appears to have been an immediate turning point, with the Williams boss and Sainz having both cleared the air. 

"He and I have a really good relationship where we talk really candidly and openly about what's going on, what's going wrong, and what's going right? And how do we capitalise on it together?" Vowles told The Race.

"And the real key is this. His performance has always been there. If you didn't have performance, this becomes really tough, and it's really hard to put one thing on, 'This has happened', because so many things have across the season.

"We had dinner here on Thursday, which was basically a reset point of: 'What do we do going forward? How can I help? And how do we do this?'

"Carlos was in a great place at that point. And I'm not surprised he came into this weekend swinging, because that was the mood that he had from the outset."