Carlos Sainz was a very popular third-placed finisher in the United States Grand Prix Sprint race. Though not an official podium because he achieved it in one of Formula 1’s shorter-form races, it marks the second time in a month that the Spaniard has finished in the top three in his Williams.
He was delighted with that, of course, but what truly made his day was the reception he got from the fans. Sprint winner Max Verstappen and second-placed George Russell had been warmly applauded and cheered before him but, when he was introduced ahead of his own post-Sprint interview, Sainz had to pause as the interview was interrupted by a huge roar was let out by those in the grandstands.
The US Grand Prix is often attended by many Latin American fans as there is a huge Hispanic community in those parts of the USA, and they were clearly delighted that a Spanish-speaker has performed so well. Sainz had to pause to let the cheering die down, while he was also delayed from starting to speak by the fact his microphone wasn’t working.
Once Russell had handed the Williams driver his own microphone, Sainz was able to say: “The performance honestly has been there all year as I said. It’s just, in the life of an athlete, sometimes you go through a good run of good luck, and suddenly really bad runs of bad luck or bad moments.
“But the pace has been there all year, and suddenly got a bit luckier today. Exactly the opposite would have happened in the first half [of the season], and you would have challenged me to say, ‘What’s going on? Why are you struggling?’
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“In this sport, it’s a lot about getting things together, and there’s a luck factor involved also. And for sure, the best moment of the day for me was that cheer from the crowd. I can tell they’re with us, they’re with Williams, they’re with me and it’s really nice to see and feel.”
In a later interview, Sainz explained how he was surprised to find himself third after avoiding the first-corner melee which saw both McLaren cars crash out, and also ended fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso’s Sprint. He added: “I braked really, really, really late on the outside because you have all the clean air and the headwind to break as late as you want.
“But then I realised, looking left, that the guys on the inside had braked as late as the guys that were almost already out braking ourselves on the outside. So yeah, I kind of thought there was going to be contact there because people brake really, really late on the inside and there were a lot of cars on the inside.
“I took basically evasive action going all the way around the outside. I thought at some point I was going to go in the gravel of how much I had to avoid the accident. And then suddenly I found myself in P3.”
