Carlos Sainz: Australian GP qualifying showing vindicates my move to Williams
Sainz’s stint at Williams is off to a good start
Carlos Sainz says the speed he and teammate Alex Albon were able to demonstrate in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix has already vindicated his move to Williams in Formula 1.
Sainz faced a tough choice when Ferrari chose to bring in seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton in his place for 2025.
The Spaniard had options at both Alpine and Sauber, which will morph into Audi’s works team in 2026, but he ultimately signed a long-term contract with Williams as he felt it had the best prospects of any midfielder.
In his first weekend with the team in Melbourne, the 30-year-old has been able to take advantage of the Grove-based team’s improved performance, showing promising pace over long runs in practice and progressing into Q3 in qualifying.
Meanwhile, both Sauber cars were knocked out in Q1, while the best Alpine - of Pierre Gasly - qualified ninth, just one place ahead of Sainz.
Asked if Williams’ speed in qualifying has vindicated his choice, Sainz told Sky: “Yeah, definitely. It might have just [been] how it is meant to be.
“Now it is a matter of working hard because I see a lot of potential in this team, a lot of potential to unleash from myself, with a team [like Williams], with the full support, with the full machinery working in the right places.
“I feel like we are on the right path.”
Albon, now in his fourth season at Williams, was able to qualify the FW47 in sixth place, even beating the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton.
Together, Sainz and Albon secured Williams’ first double Q3 appearance since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in September last year, as well as the first for the team at Melbourne in 10 years.
Sainz commended Williams for the work team put in during the winter, but heels he needs to improve his own performance over one-lap, having already highlighted his struggles in extracting the full potential from soft tyres after Friday practice.
“Very happy, very proud of the whole team, the way we managed to progress through the winter and put together a car that is allowing us to be in Q3 for the first time in many years [at Melbourne] with both car,” he said.
“I think it's great and it can only get better because I have so much more potential to unlock as soon as I understand how to extract lap times in Q3.
“I was pretty strong through testing and the weekend but clearly when it came to Q3 I didn't know where to find the lap time and I did a few mistakes and I need to build up from it.”
