Williams team boss vows ‘revenge’ after Sainz’s podium in Qatar

James Vowles has vowed to have “my revenge” after he was tackled to the ground by Carlos Sainz’s manager – “also called Carlos Sainz just to make my life better” – as the team celebrated the Williams driver’s podium in Qatar.

Sainz lined up seventh on the Qatar grid on Sunday, with the driver and the team looking to build on fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Racing Bulls.

Carlos Sainz bagged Williams’ second podium of F1 2025 in Qatar

The Spaniard made a great start and capitalised on a Lap 7 Safety Car to line up in fourth place for the restart, behind the McLaren teammates and Max Verstappen.

As the race played out, the former four-time grand prix winner found himself in podium contention ahead of Lando Norris and held onto third place by 0.7s ahead of the championship leader.

It marked Sainz‘s second podium as a Williams driver, having joined the team from Ferrari at the beginning of this season, which was also Vowles’ second podium as Williams’ team principal.

The Briton, though, learned his about the Sainz family modus operandi the first time around.

Vowles did a runner after the team photograph had been taken only to find himself tackled to the ground by Carlos Sainz, the manager Sainz not the driver one, with photographs posted on social media.

The story behind those chaotic podium celebrations in Qatar with James 🍾😅 pic.twitter.com/q1x7EcNbl5

— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) December 2, 2025

The Briton not only escaped from that moment without damage, but he’s vowed his revenge the next time Williams bags a top-three result.

“So, the trick behind all of these is when you sit down, look left and right and find the people with the champagne bottles, because they are the ones you sprint away from at speed,” Vowles revealed in a video posted on Williams’ official X account.

“On this particular occasion, Caco had already prepared for that. So, Carlos Sainz’s manager, also called Carlos Sainz just to make my life better, he prepared for that.

“[He] knew I was going to sprint and he started sprinting in advance and he really did trip me up. And I couldn’t see a damn thing because he had two champagne bottles poured into my eyes and that’s all I remember.

“And then he said, ‘Why did you run?’ and I was like: ‘This is why I run, to avoid this’.

“Anyway, I’m good as it turns out. No damage done.

“And I will have my revenge, I assure you, on him at some point.”

Williams heads into the final race of the season guaranteed fifth in the standings as it has 137 points, 45 ahead of Racing Bulls with only 43 still in play.

Read next: Carlos Sainz and Williams: The ones to watch in F1 2026?