Carlos Sainz joins Alain Prost in elite group with podium finishes for Ferrari, McLaren and Williams. Carlos Sainz celebrated his first podium with Williams in Baku.

A special podium

Carlos Sainz described his third-place finish in Baku as the most meaningful podium of his career. The Spanish driver was overjoyed after securing his very first top-three finish with Williams, a result that carried both personal and historic significance. With this achievement, Carlos Sainz has now matched one of Formula 1’s true legends, Alain Prost, in a unique milestone. Just like the Frenchman known as “The Professor,” Sainz has become only the second driver in history to stand on the podium with Ferrari, McLaren, and Williams — the three most successful teams in the Constructors’ Championship standings.

It is worth pointing out that neither Prost nor Sainz hold the all-time record for the most podiums achieved with different teams. That honor belongs jointly to Stirling Moss and John Surtees, who both reached the podium with six different teams. In addition, Prost scored the first 17 podiums of his career while racing with Renault before joining McLaren.

Titles with McLaren and Williams, Ferrari in the early 1990s

Alain Prost moved to McLaren in 1984 and quickly became the dominant force for the team, collecting an impressive 63 podium finishes. During his time at Woking, he secured three world championships in 1985, 1986, and 1989, while also building a fierce rivalry with his teammate Ayrton Senna, which became one of the most iconic duels in Formula 1 history. After leaving McLaren, Prost joined Ferrari in 1990 and claimed 14 podiums across the 1990 and 1991 seasons, before taking a sabbatical in 1992. Returning in 1993 with Williams, he enjoyed a strong final campaign with 12 podiums that sealed his fourth and final world championship before retiring from the sport.

Sainz’s victories with Ferrari

Carlos Sainz’s path has been different. Unlike Alain Prost, who also had success with Renault, the Spaniard has only scored podiums with McLaren, Ferrari, and Williams. Before his Baku achievement, Carlos Sainz had celebrated two podium finishes with McLaren between 2019 and 2020, which marked his rise as a consistent front-runner. His move to Ferrari in 2021 opened a new chapter, where across four seasons he secured 25 podiums and four career victories, proving his ability to compete at the highest level in modern Formula 1.

The milestone reached in Azerbaijan not only underlined Carlos Sainz’s consistency and adaptability across different teams but also placed him in an exclusive group alongside Alain Prost. With this podium, the Williams driver reinforced his reputation as one of the most reliable and determined figures on the current F1 grid.