Carlos Sainz walked away disappointed after failing to finish in F1’s Bahrain GP.
Sainz started a strong eighth on the grid for Sunday’s F1 Bahrain GP. It marked his best F1 start for his new Williams outfit. The Spaniard, who had been getting to grips with his FW47 in 2025, experienced his best race weekend by far at Bahrain.
Running in the top 10, a risky dive by Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda resulted in contact, damaging Sainz’s Williams. The resultant debris on track necessitated a safety car period, changing the nature of the race.
The extent of the damage later revealed a hole pierced in the Williams’ sidepod. This resulted in a performance loss Sainz claimed was worth 1 to 1.5s a lap. Sainz eventually retired on lap 45, failing to make it to the flag to avoid risking further damage to his Williams.
The Spaniard also received a 10-second penalty for forced Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes off track in turn 10 on the safety car restart. As Sainz failed to finish, this was converted into a 3-place grid drop for the upcoming Saudi Arabian GP.
Sainz expresses discontent over Tsunoda collision in F1 Bahrain GP
On lap 30, Sainz attempted an overtake on Tsunoda’s Red Bull for sixth on the road. Having dived into turn 1, the Williams racer went deep, allowing Tsunoda to reclaim the position.
However, Tsunoda oversteered in his eagerness to get better traction off the corner. The two made contact heading into turn 2, with Sainz narrowly maintaining his position. Even still, the collision caused debris to fall on the racing line, necessitating a safety car deployment.
“It got a bit hectic at one point with Yuki sending a big one on the inside and then exiting turn one. I think he lost the rear and touched me. This caused me the damage,” Sainz said, recalling the incident.
“From then on I had a second to a second and a half of car damage, and I just had to retire,” an exasperated Sainz expressed.
“A shame because that’s points. It looked like we could have a good hold of points for the first time in the year,” Sainz said, lamenting the missed opportunity. He was on course to bring home only his second-points finish of 2025.
Sainz laments missed opportunities as he reflects on positive Bahrain weekend
With the gulf between the top four teams and the rest, points were always a golden opportunity for the midfield. Williams, on this occasion, were running in an excellent position. Sainz sat amidst the likes of Red Bulls and Ferraris, and Antonelli’s Mercedes.
“To be honest, we were just fighting the whole race with cars that were quicker than us,” Sainz said. “
“A bit frustrating because you’re there with them, and you try to stay with them. But then you (degrade) your tyres more trying to keep up with them, because you’re pushing a bit harder. And then I started to go backwards after giving it a shot to stay in with them,” Sainz concluded.
Despite his inherent struggles, Sainz says this weekend was a step forward for himself at Williams. The Spaniard has one point to his name, promoted to tenth at China.
“Not a clean weekend (at Bahrain), which is what I was looking for, but I feel like we’re getting closer,” the Spaniard expressed.
