Carlos Sainz felt ‘more nervous than when I’m in the car’ as he opens up on vital strategist role at Australian Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz has shared some more insight into the “extra strategist” duties he carried out at the Australian Grand Prix, with the new Williams recruit aiding Alex Albon’s charge to fifth position.

Sainz was eliminated from the action early in last weekend’s rain-hit race, having crashed behind the Safety Car after an unexpected spike in power delivery – leaving him on the sidelines for the remainder of the afternoon.

But rather than heading for the Williams hospitality area and watching the action unfold from a distance, Sainz got stuck into the team’s garage operations and played his part in some key decision-making as the weather conditions changed.

Ahead of this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix, Sainz was asked about the praise he received from Williams team boss James Vowles, as well as the potential benefit of having a driver to hand for these mid-race calls.

Race Highlights: 2025 Australian Grand Prix

“I think in a lot of the races, it can be useful,” the Spaniard commented. “Obviously, even more so in a situation like Melbourne.

“Honestly, it’s a consideration I think all teams, including Williams, sometimes need to have, because a lot of it is driven by data analysis and things like that, but sometimes having a figure like that can help.

“The team also learned a lot last year in Brazil when Alex was out of the car at the end of the race and could help Franco [Colapinto] on his way, so it just shows that having that figure in a team can actually sometimes be very useful.”

Asked what it felt like to ‘push the button’ regarding Albon’s return to intermediate tyres from slicks amid late rain, Sainz added: “I didn’t actually press a button and I wasn’t on an intercom channel, because I still don’t know how that works very well at Williams yet.

Sainz expects 'an even tougher weekend' in Shanghai after Melbourne early exit

“If you saw me, I was running from one place to another, trying to convince people that as soon as that rain arrived, they needed to box Alex.

“The moment the McLarens went off, I didn’t have a headset or anything, I just started shouting, ‘Box, please. Box. It’s the time to box now’. It was fun.

“I remember telling JV [Vowles] after the race that I actually got really nervous – more nervous than I am when I’m in the car – because I felt some responsibility for the call.

“If I messed it up, I was in trouble for my first race because of the whole situation. It was high nerves, but I actually had a lot of fun helping the team out.”