Carlos Sainz relief after Williams exposure: 'I was a bit nervous'

04/22/2025 01:15 PM

Carlos Sainz stated he was "a bit nervous" in exercising a DRS trick that brought Williams a double-points finish at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Sainz enjoyed arguably his best weekend of the season since joining the team over the winter from Ferrari, qualifying a superb sixth before taking the chequered flag in eighth. Team-mate Alex Albon climbed from 11th to ninth courtesy of a co-operative Sainz who kept the Thai-British driver in his DRS to ensure a challenging Isack Hadjar in his Racing Bulls was unable to pass. "A solid race, good tyre management on the medium, managing to dominate the first part of the race," assessed Sainz on his performance. "Then we had a slow pit stop that cost me three or four seconds, but we managed to keep it cool, keep it under control, and from there on we managed the hard tyre to the end, going through some slower cars. "Then I think it was with 12, 13 laps to go, the team asked me to give DRS to Alex to make sure Hadjar didn't have a chance at passing us. "It was a bit of a tricky one because you always feel it exposes you, especially in a high-speed track where the DRS has a very big effect around here. "You always get a bit nervous about it because you cannot put a foot wrong, if you do a mistake, hit a wall or whatever. But in the end, it worked." Sainz's DRS trick The DRS trick is one Sainz 'invented', coming up with the idea when leading on his way to victory at the 2023 Singapore Grand Prix, keeping Lando Norris in his DRS to protect against from the charging Mercedes pair of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton on fresher tyres.  "When it's your idea, you're 100 per cent sure," he said. "But it's not the same compared to when it comes from the team. You always struggle a bit more to commit to it. It doesn't come natural. "But we did the right call in the end. It ensured the eighth and ninth positions for the team and we could bring home this incredible result." The only negative of the race for Sainz was that his cooling vest suffered a failure immediately before it began. The vest is one of the ideas that has come to fruition to help the drivers from suffering in extreme heat conditions. "I went for it, but unfortunately, I had a leakage in the vest as soon as I switched it on on the grid," said Sainz. "In the end, I don't think it worked. "A bit disappointed to be carrying all that weight for nothing. I wasn't overweight because our car has a bit of weight margin, but it's just you drive with all these things, and then you don't get to enjoy the chill part of it."