"Not my business": Carlos Sainz addresses awkward Lewis Hamilton question after Baku podium with Williams

Carlos Sainz fielded an awkward question in the post-race press conference at Baku after his thrilling podium finish. The Spaniard was asked how it felt to secure his first F1 podium with Williams before Lewis Hamilton, the man who displaced him at Ferrari in 2025, achieved the same feat with the Scuderia.

For Sainz, the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a turning point in his first season with Williams. He came into the weekend lamenting his poor run with the James Vowles-led team, labeling it the worst phase of his career.

Driving for Williams, a backmarker until last season, probably wouldn't have been in Carlos Sainz's future if it weren't for Ferrari replacing him with Lewis Hamilton. It wasn't a decision made because the Spaniard was struggling, which he was not, but because the Scuderia couldn't resist passing by the opportunity of having a seven-time F1 champion aboard.

Lewis Hamilton with Carlos Sainz at the 2024 F1 Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi - Source: Getty

Surprisingly, Sainz scored his first podium with Williams before Hamilton did with Ferrari. When the 31-year-old was asked for his thoughts on this twist of fate, he replied (via fia.com):

"What everyone else does is not my business, to be honest. What I care about is that the first opportunity that I had to score a podium with Williams, and the first opportunity Williams had to score a podium, we took it, we scored it, and there it is."

Carlos Sainz's road to the Azerbaijan GP podium began after he secured a shock front-row position in a chaotic qualifying session, which saw a record six red flags. On race day, George Russell, who started in P5, was the only driver who could overtake Sainz.

The Williams driver showed impressive pace and level-headedness throughout the race to secure a P3 finish and was overwhelmed with emotion. Ferrari had a contrasting fate, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finishing in P8 and P9, respectively. Nonetheless, both drivers congratulated Sainz on his impressive race.

Max Verstappen took a lights-to-flag victory at Baku, while championship leader McLaren had a terrible day. Oscar Piastri crashed out on lap 1, while Lando Norris could not do better than a P7 finish.

Carlos Sainz doesn't expect Williams to get another podium in 2025

Carlos Sainz celebrates on the podium after the 2025 F1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Though Williams has taken a step forward in the pecking order in the 2025 F1 season, Carlos Sainz emphasized that his podium finish at Baku was the best result the team is capable of this season.

He highlighted how their FW45 challenger is suited to low-downforce tracks like Baku and Vegas, but on high-downforce circuits like Qatar, it would be an uphill battle to even score points. In the post-race press conference, when Sainz was asked about his expectations from the Williams challenger in the remainder of the season, he said:

"Not much more than this, to be honest. I think the podium is — unless something crazy happens — maybe our best chance. Probably Vegas will be our next best track to try and maybe put together a top five or a top six, which is what we sometimes can achieve when everything goes right.

Apologies, it’s a tough ask. I’ll fight for it if it comes, like you’ve seen today. But the rest, for example in Qatar, I don’t think we will score points. That’s how much our performance swings."

Sainz's podium finish, for which he earned 15 points and took his tally to 31 points in 2025, moved him from 18th in the drivers' championship to 12th.

Edited by Yash Kotak