After seeing both his and his teammate's car disqualified from qualifying, whereby the rear wings did not pass the scrutineering checks, Carlos Sainz rallied to add a point to both his and Williams’ strong season tally, as they continue their pursuit of fifth in the constructors’ championship.
Despite not reaching the heights of his sensational podium, in Azerbaijan, Sainz went from P18 on the grid to tenth at the chequered flag, having pulled off an audaciously long first stint.
Switching from the medium compound tyres that he started the race with, on lap 50 out of 62, Sainz charged on the soft compound tyres and went from P15 to P10 by the chequered flag.
📲 Follow The Sporting News on WhatsApp
Speaking to williamsf1.com post-race, the Spaniard said: “Given the circumstances, we need to be happy and proud about our performance today. It was a straightforward race with no safety cars, but we still managed to progress through the field and grab a valuable point starting from P18.
“We were able to extend our medium tyre longer than anybody else into the race and once I put the softs on, I was able to do a very fast stint and some strong overtakes on track. We could’ve been fighting higher up the field today but, all in all, I’m very happy with our race execution.”
That additional point for Sainz pulls Williams one further clear of sixth-placed Racing Bulls, with the gap now 30 points with half a dozen races remaining. Aston Martin are a further four points behind, after Fernando Alonso finished seventh at the Marina Bay Street Circuit.
Is Sainz back to his confident-best?
It has only been one race since his third place, in Baku, but mature and savvy drives are what make Carlos Sainz often stand out, and that is exactly what he did at Singapore.
Maintaining his medium compound tyres for as long as feasibly possible, he formed a train of cars behind him and limited the progress that they could make on fresher rubber. And despite the absence of a safety car, which is rare for a Singapore race, he still managed to fight back to P10, utilising the relative youth and gripof his soft compound tyres.
1️⃣4️⃣ positions gained combined 🤯
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) October 5, 2025
That's how you fight from the back 👊 pic.twitter.com/AUsAWE9tnz
On Saturday, the Spaniard was outqualified by teammate Albon, before the disqualifications. However, the Thai driver started from the pit lane and used the 62-lap race as an experimental test. This was only the seventh time that Albon had not finished inside the top ten of a grand prix in 2025, and second in a row.
Yet still for Williams, what could have been a messy weekend sees them further grasp fifth in the championship.
Formula 1 news & related links
Why Lewis Hamilton earned a post-race penalty at the Singapore Grand Prix
McLaren win the F1 Constructors’ Championship: the stats behind their title