Carlos Sainz Celebrates First Williams podium with Impromptu Road Trip
BAKU,Azerbaijan – Carlos Sainz Jr. turned a travel headache into a celebratory road trip with former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc after securing a hard-fought third-place finish at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Sunday. A storm forced their flight to be diverted,leading the pair to rent a van and embark on a journey from Italy to Monaco.
“We were diverted by a storm and couldn’t land in Nice,” Sainz explained to Leclerc while filming for Instagram. “so we landed in the middle of Italy, rented a van and now we are on our way to Monaco.” The duo playfully suggested the van journey might even be faster than flying.
Sainz’s podium finish marks a notable turning point in a season that had previously fallen short of expectations. After a series of unfortunate incidents and underperforming results since moving from Ferrari to Williams, the Azerbaijan GP result nearly doubled his points tally to 31 for the 2025 season.
The result follows recent feel-good podiums for other drivers – Isack Hadjar at Zandvoort and Nico Hulkenberg at silverstone – adding to a narrative of unexpected success in Formula 1 this year. While acknowledging that the race benefited from challenges faced by McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar piastri, Sainz emphasized the importance of a clean qualifying lap and a flawless race execution.
“sadly, with me, we’ve had a lot of bad luck, a lot of incidents – very difficult to convert all that pace into results,” Sainz said. “But now I understand why it all happened, as the first podium needed to come like this. Its just life, you know?”
He continued, framing the experience as a valuable lesson: “Life just sometiems brings you those bad moments to give you a very nice one, and this stays much better than any other thing that I was expecting. So, just a life lesson, to keep believing, keep trusting yourself, your team around you, your procedures, everything that you’re doing – as eventually, sooner or later, it always pays off.”
