1996 F1 champion Damon Hill has showered praise on Williams driver Carlos Sainz for his exceptional performance in the rain-affected Las Vegas qualifying. The Spaniard managed to stick his FW47 in P3 behind the likes of Max Verstappen (P2) and Lando Norris (P1).
Carlos Sainz is competing in his maiden F1 campaign as a Williams Racing driver this year. Over the course of the first 21 races, he has continued to hone his skills in the racecar and has even secured a podium finish. Moreover, he is currently in 13th place in the drivers’ standings and is only five points away from the top 10.
In the recent qualifying session around the Las Vegas street circuit, conditions were treacherous, especially during Q1, but despite this, Sainz was able to put in consistent runs to eventually end up in third place.
In Q1, his best time was 1:54.873, and then in Q2, he managed 1:51.144 to make it into Q3. The pressure was immense during the final session, and amid this, Sainz was able to pull off a time of 1:48.296.
Several esteemed personalities have showered praise on him for his performance, and one such person is the former racing driver Damon Hill. Via Instagram stories, Hill has shared an F1 post and come up with a one-word reaction:
“Impressed!”
Having already amassed one podium in the 2025 Formula 1 season, Sainz will be a strong contender for adding another during Sunday’s Las Vegas Grand Prix. The straight line speed of the FW47 would help him in moving forward, or at least staying in P3 for the majority of the 50-lap race.
While Damon Hill has come up with a one-word response to Carlos Sainz’s heroics in the Las Vegas qualifying, Sainz himself sounded extremely upbeat via the post-session interviews. In line with this, he came up with an in-depth take via F1:
“Very happy, very proud of everyone. Especially on wet in Q1 and Q2, every time we were crossing the line, we were P1 at the time, and I was kind of wishing the track would stay wet, because on wet, I was really confident, really comfortable with the car.”
“We knew that on interns, probably that performance would go away a bit, because it was closer to dry and closer to the conditions of FP3, where we were nothing special. But we managed to keep ourselves in the fight, fighting for pole until the last lap. I did a really good lap. I thought it was pole worthy.”
Considering that Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are fighting for the 2025 drivers’ championship, this could open up opportunities for Sainz to even go for the victory in the upcoming race.
