Jolyon Palmer thinks Carlos Sainz is ‘foolish’ after what he heard the Williams driver say in Monaco

Carlos Sainz extended the Williams driver’s scoring streak to four rounds with P10 in the Monaco Grand Prix, and will hope to take it up to five at the Spanish Grand Prix.

The 30-year-old has taken points in all 10 of his previous appearances in F1 at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya ahead of this Sunday’s race. Sainz has also now scored points in all 10 of his appearances so far at the Monaco GP, which was not a part of the F1 calendar in 2020.

Williams gamed F1’s attempt to spice up the Monaco GP by making it a mandatory two-stop race to see Sainz and teammate Alex Albon finish in the points last Sunday. Sainz backed the field up to let Albon create a margin to complete his pit stops, before the pair traded places.

Sainz’s P10 finish in the Monaco GP moved him to 12 points for the 2025 season so far since joining Williams from Ferrari, while Albon’s P9 took him to 42. The Spaniard is still to finish a Grand Prix in 2025 higher than eighth, while the London-born Thai has come P5 three times.

Carlos Sainz is ‘foolish’ blaming Racing Bulls for Williams gaming the Monaco Grand Prix’s two-stop rule

Williams were not the first team to exploit the rules last Sunday, as they copied Racing Bulls gaming F1’s two-stop rule for the Monaco GP. Sainz mimicked Liam Lawson, who backed the pack up first to let Isack Hadjar build a window to complete his two pit stops for a P6 finish.

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Sainz was quick to suggest after the Monaco GP that Williams copied Racing Bulls “to make sure we got two cars into the points”, having been “victims first”. Albon also suggested that Williams would not have gamed the rules if Racing Bulls “didn’t start it” to force their hand.

Yet Jolyon Palmer feels Sainz and Alex’s claims are only ‘foolish’ excuses, as Williams would have already had gaming F1’s two-stop rule on the team’s mind going into the Monaco GP. They also did not do anything wrong by prioritising F1 constructors’ championship points.

“Sainz and Williams were quick to point the finger at Racing Bulls for starting this strategy and causing a knock-on sequence of events,” Palmer has told the official F1 website.

“But if Williams or Mercedes were lining up on Sunday thinking they would do anything other than that, they were foolish. Ultimately, the sport pays out for teams’ championship positions, and the teams were looking after their own interests.”

Williams still lost points to F1 rivals Racing Bulls and Haas in the Monaco Grand Prix

Despite Williams’ tactic ensuring Albon and Sainz both finished the Monaco GP in the points last week, the Grove outfit still saw Haas trim their advantage in the constructors’ standings. Esteban Ocon capitalised on Williams and Racing Bulls’ tactics to finish in P7 for six points.

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Williams are still comfortably clear as the best of the rest behind the top four teams with 54 points, leading Haas (26), Racing Bulls (22) and Aston Martin (14) in the effective second tier on the grid. Alpine (7) and Sauber (6) occupy the bottom two positions in the championship.

Sainz will now hope to help Williams maintain their advantage in his home race this week at the Spanish GP. The Madrid native taking points will show the progress Williams have made since the 2024 Spanish GP, having qualified in just P19 and P20 and finished in P18 and P20.