How Sainz showed Williams his true value in Jeddah

As soon as Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz became available for the 2025 season, Williams team principal James Vowles wanted him at Williams. It wasn't about the prestige of attracting a four-time race winner, but about acquiring a driver who offered a wealth of strategic and technical expertise.

This year's race in Saudi Arabia encapsulated that. When his team-mate Alex Albon had Isack Hadjar nipping at his heels over the second stint, Sainz was asked to back off and ensure Albon was within DRS range to ensure he had the tools to bat off the Racing Bulls driver. It duly paid off, as Williams secured six points to ease its path to fifth in the constructors' standings.

Who better to make that work than Sainz? After all, he'd turned that DRS trick into a winning strategy a year and a half ago.

There were shades of Singapore's 2023 grand prix in Sainz's willingness to tow Albon along. Back then, Sainz gave Lando Norris a tow along the straights to ensure George Russell didn't gazump the pair of them on the dying laps to collect the sole non-Red Bull win that season.

The stakes were slightly lower this time: ensuring Williams secured eighth and ninth in the race. But that was mighty important for the Grove squad.

Carlos Sainz, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox - Getty Images

Given Vowles' assertions that Williams will not be expending much in the way of its restricted resources on its 2025 car, building up a healthy points tally early will be instrumental in its final championship placing – especially if other teams vying for fifth overall develop further into the year.

Sainz appears to be getting his head around the demands of the Williams. Note the travails of Lewis Hamilton, Sainz’s replacement at Ferrari, who has observed surprising differences in operating a car with a Ferrari powertrain; the greater use of engine braking into corners is something Hamilton still needs to understand fully.

It has been the reverse case for Sainz. He's not raced with a Mercedes powertrain before, and so presumably needed to rely on the braking feel a little bit more on the corner entry.

In truth, Sainz was much more chipper in Bahrain than he was in the opening three races. He outqualified Albon and put the car eighth on the grid there, but admitted that he'd been drawn into battles he probably shouldn't have fought – and the fight with Tsunoda ultimately brought his race to an end after contact led to a gaping hole in his sidepod.

Thus, the Spaniard took a more circumspect approach to proceedings in Jeddah. He went two better in qualifying to secure sixth on the grid, but didn't get too involved in fights with Hamilton and Norris behind him on the grid; he knew there was more to lose by trying to cling on to sixth or seventh.

Carlos Sainz, Williams, Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox - Getty Images

Although the team knew that it could bank on Sainz to make the DRS tow work in the closing stages of the race, the Madrid-born racer admitted that he was slightly reticent to do so.

"The team asked me to give the DRS to Alex to make sure Hadjar didn't have a chance of passing us," Sainz recalled. "It's a tricky one because you always feel like it exposes you, especially on a high speed track where the DRS has a very big effect. You always get a bit nervous about it because you know from there on, you cannot put a foot wrong if you make a mistake or hit a wall or whatever.

"But in the end it worked, and I could show my pace on the last lap. I had a lot of pace, which is a really good sign.

"It's not the same when it comes as your idea, because you're 100% sure. When it comes from the team, you always struggle a bit more to commit to it because it doesn't come naturally for you. But I think we made the right call in the end.”

In the past few years, Williams has rarely had both the car and the drivers to flex its chops and play the game to ensure both drivers can score. There were however moments last year where Albon and Colapinto were both in the top 10. And there was also 2021's madcap Hungarian Grand Prix, when Russell told the team to prioritise Nicholas Latifi to ensure the team scored its biggest payday in almost four years.

Having Sainz now almost fully integrated into the team, and with a genuine midfield car, Williams' future looks a lot brighter. Vowles' reforms behind the scenes might take longer to be fully realised, but the lowest-hanging branches are now starting to bear fruit.

Races like Jeddah demonstrate exactly why Williams and Vowles pined after Sainz for so long. Having got its man, and now having him up to speed, this should be the start of more regular payoffs if the FW47 remains competitive over 2025.