Carlos Sainz Jr believes that Williams have a shot at finishing on the Formula 1 podium at the Las Vegas Grand Prix in the United States, Afrosport reports.
The Spaniard delivered a solid drive as he qualified second for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and finished second to hand him his first podium since joining the team from Ferrari at the start of the year.
It was also the first F1 podium for Williams since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix but it was their first full race podium finish since the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Sainz also believes the Woking outfit have a chance of scoring solid points at the United States Grand Prix in Austin and the Mexico City Grand Prix.
“Not much more than this, to be honest. I think the podium is – unless something crazy happens – maybe our best chance,” he explained.
“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.
“… I’ll fight for it if it comes, like you’ve seen. But the rest, for example in Qatar, I don’t think we will score points. That’s how much our performance swings.
“But then we will have the Austins, the Mexicos. We will be a pure midfield car where we can maybe get in the points and keep our championship going. So excited to see what happens in those races.”
Carlos Sainz, back on the podium.
But this time, in BLUE 💙 pic.twitter.com/t6Xwa6lxte
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) September 21, 2025
Williams have also strengthened their grip on fifth place in the constructors’ championship and are now 39 points clear of Aston Martin with seven races remaining.
