Carlos Sainz Jr. came away from the Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos with an unexpected first podium in Formula 1 after Lewis Hamilton was handed a five-second penalty for crashing into Alexander Albon.
After completing a stellar comeback drive from twentieth on the grid after an engine issue, the Spaniard sliced through the field to finish fourth overall.
Sainz had to wait for a stewards decision before getting confirmed in third position, unfortunately this meant he didn’t get to enjoy the podium with race winner Max Verstappen and second-placed Pierre Gasly.
With Hamilton’s penalty promoting Sainz there was still an issue to be dealt with as the Spaniard himself was put under investigation for the usage of DRS during the yellow flag period when Valtteri Bottas’s car was being recovered.
However, this came to nothing and Sainz claimed his first podium in F1 and the first for a Spanish driver since Fernando Alonso grabbed second for Ferrari at the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, whilst McLaren grabbed their first podium in F1 after 118 races and 2072 days away from the rostrum.
