F1 team principal reveals what Carlos Sainz did after shocking safety car crash

Williams F1 team principal James Vowles has revealed the crucial role that Carlos Sainz played for the team after his crash behind the safety car at the Australian Grand Prix.

If there is one team to get excited about at the moment – it is Williams.

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After a promising F1 testing weekend, the Grove-based outfit arrived in style at Melbourne and looked incredibly competitive.

After getting both drivers through to Q3, they looked set to take home an incredible double points finish, with Alex Albon managing to out-qualify the Ferrari pair of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.

But those hopes were scuppered in a bizarre incident at the very start of the race.

As the rain came down in Melbourne, the pack were following the safety car after Jack Doohan crashed his Alpine.

Yet in a strange turn of events, Sainz dropped his Williams under safety car conditions after appearing to lose grip over a part of the painted road surface at Albert Park.

He ended up in the barriers and his race was over – but it now turns out he played an instrumental role in helping his team-mate to come home P5 in an incredible result for the team.

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Carlos Sainz vital to Williams Aus GP success

Sainz made the call for the team to go aggressive and pit for intermediate tyres ahead of the rest of the pack, a call that saw Albon fly up the order.

The call was so aggressive in fact that Albon believed the team had made a mistake when he saw how dry the track was coming out of the pits.

And team principal Vowles has now hailed the Spaniard for what proved to be the pivotal moment of the race for the team.

"Carlos came to help us make that call," Vowles said after the race.

"He was next to me on the pit wall. During the course of the race, he saw the [weather] radar, saw what as coming and his advice was crucial.

"It's what lead to that aggressive call that moved us to that higher position. He was spot on."

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