{"id":171389,"date":"2025-09-21T13:42:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T13:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/f1-carlos-sainz-makes-a-grand-return-in-baku-where-he-secures-his-first-podium-with-williams\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T13:42:27","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T13:42:27","slug":"f1-carlos-sainz-makes-a-grand-return-in-baku-where-he-secures-his-first-podium-with-williams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/f1-carlos-sainz-makes-a-grand-return-in-baku-where-he-secures-his-first-podium-with-williams\/","title":{"rendered":"F1: Carlos Sainz makes a grand return in Baku, where he secures his first podium with Williams."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Max Verstappen<\/strong> showcased his dominance on the streets of Baku with a victory that sent chills down his rivals\u2019 spines. While the current championship leader, Oscar Piastri<\/strong>, watched the race from a run-off area after a rookie mistake, the four-time world champion completed the sixth grand chelem<\/i> of his career, leading from start to finish, clocking the fastest lap at 1:43.388, and finishing with a notable 15-second lead over George Russell<\/strong>. Another victor of the day was Carlos Sainz<\/strong>, who secured his first podium with Williams after a race where his boldness was only tempered by Mercedes\u2019 strategy.<\/p>\n

After a streak of 16 disappointing finishes, this third place in Baku should be seen as a fresh start for Sainz, who was voted the driver of the day with 28% of the votes. The hugs with his mechanics near the podium signified a long-awaited reward after numerous trials against his teammate, Alex Albon<\/strong>, and a string of bad luck. “The podium had to come this way. This is a lesson in life. You have to trust in what you do because sooner or later it pays off,” Sainz admitted, revealing he felt happier than during his first podium at the Brazilian GP in 2019.<\/p>\n

Albon, starting from the back, aimed to support his teammate with an early pit stop to gather critical data for their unequal battle against Mercedes. Although Sainz lost pace to Russell, he managed to maintain his position against Andrea Kimi Antonelli<\/strong>. True to his nature as a smooth operator<\/i>, Sainz kept pace with Verstappen while holding his breath when, with 11 laps to go, his engineer Gaetan Jego<\/strong>, alerted him of an impending challenge from the Italian. “Leave it to me, please,” replied Carlos, demonstrating confidence in his ability to handle tensions on the track.<\/p>\n

Fernando Alonso’s Struggles<\/h2>\n

Meanwhile, the race saw a stark contrast in the performance of Fernando Alonso<\/strong>, who finished fifteenth and had no chance of contending for points. From the start, Alonso faced adversity, receiving a five-second penalty for prematurely releasing the clutch. The long straights of Baku complicated the ideal setup for the Aston Martin\u2019s aerodynamics, hindering his performance throughout the race.<\/p>\n

McLaren also faced challenges, aiming to clinch the Constructors’ Championship but ending with a meager six points from Lando Norris<\/strong>. With Piastri absent, the British driver couldn’t capitalize on his opportunities. Right from the lights going out, the championship leader jumped the start, having to rectify it with hard braking, making him an easy target for competitors. In a fit of desperation from the last position, the Australian overshot the corner at turn 5, crashing his McLaren into the protective barriers.<\/p>\n

Suddenly, a window of opportunity opened for Norris, who now trailed by 31 points in the championship standings. However, just as the safety car was about to come in, the British driver lost focus and became entangled with Charles Leclerc<\/strong>. From then on, the rear wing advantage of the Ferrari was an insurmountable hurdle for Lando, who was penalized due to McLaren’s known struggles in dirty air.<\/p>\n

All of this chaos was something Sainz aimed to keep a distance from. His chances for a podium depended on a smooth race, avoiding any sudden issues while focusing more on his rearview mirror than on Verstappen, who had secured pole position. In the early laps, Carlos\u2019s objective was to gain enough of a buffer to protect himself against Antonelli’s potential undercut with the medium tires and Russell’s overcut with the hard tires. Mercedes was indeed a real threat, yet no one anticipated a reaction from Williams.<\/p>\n

Strategists under James Vowles<\/strong> decided to wait until lap 28 for their pit stop, making time seem to stretch endlessly. Seven laps earlier, Racing Bulls had already stopped Liam Lawson<\/strong>. Williams knew that every minute they held onto the medium tires would be a treasure for the final stint. At first glance, this seemed an extreme gamble, given that Russell still had the strength to stretch his first stint with hard tires, just like Yuki Tsunoda<\/strong>, who was finally competitive with Red Bull.<\/p>\n

If the British driver continued to push his worn tires, his success in executing an overcut against Sainz would be almost assured. On lap 39, Tsunoda came into the pits, but when he rejoined, he had to relinquish position to Lawson. The following lap, Russell came in at last, already aware of his winning strategy. Mercedes\u2019 mechanics executed the stop so efficiently that Russell didn\u2019t even need to contest with Williams. He returned to the track in second position, with a cushion of 1.3 seconds.<\/p>\n

The outcomes of Baku represented a pivotal moment for several teams and drivers, including prominent names who faced a range of challenges and triumphs throughout the racing weekend. The nuanced blend of skill, strategy, and misfortune unfolded spectacularly, showcasing the unpredictable nature of Formula 1.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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General News – 2<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Max Verstappen showcased his dominance on the streets of Baku with a victory that sent chills down his rivals\u2019 spines. While the current championship leader, Oscar Piastri, watched the race from a run-off area after a rookie mistake, the four-time world champion completed the sixth grand chelem of his career, leading from start to finish, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[41494,41491,41483,1926,22737,42504,36710,39925,41484,36958,42509,5959,41486,42506,41490,42502,42508,42510,42507,8644,42503,894,29380,42505,13175,14325,42501,41492],"class_list":["post-171389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-alexander-albon","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-aston-martin-f1","tag-baku","tag-carlos","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-deportes","tag-deportes-formula-1","tag-fernando-alonso","tag-formula-1","tag-george-russell","tag-grand","tag-lance-stroll","tag-lando-norris","tag-lewis-hamilton","tag-max-verstappen","tag-mclaren-f1","tag-mercedes-gp","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-podium","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-return","tag-sainz","tag-scuderia-ferrari","tag-secures","tag-williams","tag-williams-f1","tag-yuki-tsunoda"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171389\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/teknomers.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}