Carlos Sainz Jnr mustn’t lose time trying to keep Lewis Hamilton behind in today’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, says Williams team principal James Vowles.
For the second week in a row, Sainz has qualified one place ahead of Hamilton, the driver who took his place at Ferrari this year. Vowles praised Sainz’s performance after taking his best starting position since joining Williams.“I’m really proud of the steps Carlos is making,” Vowles told the official Formula 1 channel. “He was really in control. It was great to hear him on the radio, in control of what was going on in the session and just working with the team on the best run plan to get him up as high as possible.
“And it was a brilliant lap. They really made some good time up in turn one, two, three and just held on to it.”
Last week in Bahrain, Sainz tried to keep Hamilton behind him during the opening stint, but took too much out of his tyres which compromised him later in the race. Vowles said Sainz must resist the temptation to fight too hard against cars which are significantly quicker than the Williams.
“Carlos said this himself, but we have to take a little bit of care with Lewis,” said Vowles. “We can qualify there, but we’re not quite on that race pace yet.
“So I think one of the reflections from Bahrain is it was great to race the Ferrari, it looked great, but it did cost us a points position. So it’s making sure we race correctly for where the car is tomorrow.
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“Points are on the table, that’s where the car’s been all weekend. But, and it’s always a big but here, it’s never a normal race. We’ve always had red flag [or] Safety Cars that dominate it. So it’s just a question of where that falls.”
Before this weekend began, Sainz said he realised he needed to “pick my fights a bit better” than he did in Bahrain.
“Unfortunately this year I think with the Ferrari, the Mercedes and the Red Bulls I need to, if I’m ahead of them, last year I was fighting them hard but maybe this year I need to be a bit more realistic and let them go.
“Especially on a track like Bahrain, where overtaking in the end is easy and they’re going to pass you. Other tracks, not so much. Maybe Suzuka or other tracks like Monaco, you definitely fight it out.
“But in tracks like Bahrain, maybe pick a bit better the fights and commit to make sure you’re finishing in the points.”
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Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
20th April 2025, 8:50
Thankfully it’s still the World Championship, and not the F1 Middle East Championship, not yet anyway. So there’s a whole summer of proper tracks and not moving over as if you’re being lapped to look forward to.
gDog (@gdog)
20th April 2025, 11:57
Surely this is a track where he can try and hold a faster car off??
Jere (@jerejj)
20th April 2025, 12:25
Maybe, maybe not.
Jeddah Corniche Circuit has generally been racing-friendly, but overtaking can also be a struggle without a big delta.
Dex
20th April 2025, 12:47
Why not just retire him before the race, so he doesn’t bother racing at all then?
OOliver
20th April 2025, 16:05
The whole purpose of racing is to score points or win.
You don’t achieve anything by driving in a manner just to keep you ahead of another driver only to both end up out of the points.
I luv chicken
20th April 2025, 18:23
The real purpose of racing, is all the chicks.
Edvaldo
20th April 2025, 15:42
He’s saying this because he wants the points. Sainz over-raced in Bahrain and went home empty-handed after dropping off.
Lando Norris did this many times in 2023. Didn’t fight Max because there was no point fighting a faster car, but when it was Ferrari or Mercedes it was a fight for his life. For sure, it’s an annoying way to race
Roger Ayles (@roger-ayles)
20th April 2025, 16:06
And this is why the high degredation philosophy can be such a awful thing when you end up in situations where drivers are having to focus so much on tyre management that they are not racing anyone around them.
I think back to the early parts of 2012 & 2013 where the tyres were probably at there most extreme in terms of management when we often heard radio messages where drivers were asking the team if they could race or not. That was just wrong imo.
And look i’m not necessary against tyre management as that as well as having to manage other elements of the car has always been a part of the sport. But I just really can’t stand it when it feels like it’s something that is been created artificially via tyres intentionally designed to fall of a cliff and when it’s as extreme as it was back then and can still be every so often today.
It’s just no fun watching drivers cruising around so far off the pace and avoiding fighting other cars purely because the tyres have been artificially manipulated to act a certain artificial way to create quantity over quality anti-racing.
Jojo
20th April 2025, 17:15
He’s got Hamilton, Tsunoda and Norris all behind him with faster cars. If he doesn’t try to hold off faster cars then the best he can hope for is 9th – maybe that’s all Williams are aiming for. There’s quite low deg in Jeddah, so he’s not too likely to destroy tyres by racing as much as he did in Bahrain.