Carlos Sainz took his first points for Williams in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, having finished in eighth place ahead of teammate Alex Albon.
The Spaniard qualified in sixth place for the race, but dropped back behind Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, who was charging through to the top five places.
Sainz worked together with teammate Alex Albon to hold off the threat from Isack Hadjar, who started on the hard tyre and completed the race on the medium.
The tyre offset made him a lot quicker than the two Williams drivers, but Sainz employed a similar tactic that once famously enabled him to take an unlikely race win during his time at Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz employs Singapore GP ‘tactic’ for points finish in Saudi Arabia
The 2023 season was known for being utterly dominant for Red Bull, with the team taking every race win apart from one in Singapore.
Sainz took the race win for Ferrari, but it wasn’t without late pressure from Lando Norris and the two Mercedes drivers, George Russell and Lewis Hamilton.
To hold off the threat from Mercedes, who pitted for fresh tyres during a late Safety Car, Sainz had used Norris as a backstop for the DRS, effectively creating a ‘train’ effect.
This prevented drivers from being able to make a move, as they all had DRS in the same line and could not make use of the slipstream.
James Vowles compares Carlos Sainz drive to Singapore GP victory
Sainz used the same tactic to hold off Hadjar in the Saudi Arabian GP, using Albon as the backstop to himself and the Racing Bulls driver.
Vowles commended Sainz’s efforts over team radio on F1 TV, comparing the P8 finish to his famous victory around the streets of the city.
“Thank you, Carlos. Well done. I’m so proud and I’m so impressed. It was just teamwork to the absolute maximum. I can see now why you won in Singapore. Well done,” said Vowles.
“That’s so much to process, and you did a brilliant job with it. I can’t wait to see how we keep going this season. Great job.”
Albon crossed the line with just 0.5s between him and Hadjar, while Sainz was a further 1.8s up the road from the Thai driver.
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