Coming back to race in the Belgian GP after a 3-week break, Carlos Sainz will hope to break his unlucky streak with Williams. Currently standing 15th in the Drivers’ Championship, Sainz has suffered consecutive setbacks – registering a DNS in Austria due to a brake issue, and finishing P12 in Silverstone after a collision with Charles Leclerc when in the fight for 8th.
In Austria, the Spaniard was unable to start the race due to a severe brake problem. At Silverstone, contact with his former Ferrari teammate pushed him down to 12th place, despite running in the points before the incident. While some of the recent issues have been beyond the team’s control, Williams will be eager to resolve their ongoing reliability struggles.
Reliability woes continue into Belgian GP
Friday’s first and only practice session brought another frustrating setback for Sainz, who lost a significant portion of FP1 due to a fuel-system problem.
Post sprint qualifying, Sainz testified to his frustration, acknowledging that the team have not performed optimally recently.
“Yes, we still seem to get things or make our lives a bit complicated at this stage of the season. Still trying to make sure that everything comes together.”
Sainz rebounds in sprint qualifying despite limited practice
Nevertheless, the 30-year-old managed to reach SQ3 against the odds, securing a solid P6 for Saturday’s sprint race.
“But it was a big turnaround from the team and myself, after missing half of the only FP1 session that we had today, to get a couple of decent laps in SQ1 and make it through to SQ3 and put a good lap on soft there at the end.”
Confidence remains in FW47 potential
Confident in his pace when conditions align, Sainz remained hopeful for a smooth weekend and stronger rest of the season.
“I think when everything goes normal, we seem to have a good pace. I’ve proven the whole season that when everything is more or less under control, the pace is there and the good lap times are there, so hopefully tomorrow we have a clean day, and we keep building through the weekend and the season.”
Alongside the new upgrade package introduced this weekend – whose effects Sainz is still trying to fully grasp – the former Ferrari driver is also continuing to adapt his driving style to suit the unique demands of the FW47.
“Yes, we brought an upgrade to this race. Obviously, I still don’t know what it exactly does to the car, and I’m still figuring out what it’s doing to the set-up.
“I don’t think we were quite in the right window in FP1, and then we seemed to get it into a better window in FP2. So, a big learning curve for us, given it’s the sprint weekend and we’re running a new package.
“Hopefully we learn how to maximise it. It’s my first time with a Williams around Spa, it feels quite a bit different to a Ferrari, so I’m still having to adapt my driving and everything to the car.”
Haas rivalry expected in sprint battle
Sainz expected a tight contest with the Haas drivers during the Sprint, as he starts between Ocon and Bearman on the grid. He also believed their aggressive set-up choice could hurt their long-run performance.
“We’ll be in the fight with the Haas. They seem very quick this weekend in quali[fying], which is normally their weakness, so it makes me feel like in the race they might be even more competitive. But they’re running a low downforce wing, which might hurt a bit their degradation, so we’ll see.
“I’ll be there in the fight with them and see what we can do. Prepare well for the race and the main quali[fying] and the main race, that is what counts.”
Albon hampered by power unit issue in sprint qualifying
As for his teammate, Alex Albon, it was a disappointing outing in sprint qualifying. Despite being 8th in the drivers’ championship, Albon was knocked out in SQ1. The Thai driver voiced clear frustration about a recurring engine issue.
“No, well yes but no, we have an engine issue on our car so we had it in FP1. And then we thought we’d fix it for quali and we didn’t so we’re losing a lot of lap time down on the straights, so we need to kind of fix it. Of course, the Lewis thing maybe could have, would have but I was on the same lap time and yeah anyway.”
PU issues mask true performance of Williams package
Albon dismissed concerns about the car’s pace, attributing the issue to a power unit fault he’s confident the team can rectify in time.
“It’s a fundamental issue, it will either be a PU change or something so we’ll get to the bottom of it, hopefully we’ll be better.”
Despite being knocked out early in sprint qualifying, Albon pointed to strong performance in the technical middle sector of the track as evidence that the FW47 has genuine pace – just not in its current compromised state.
“I mean FP1 we were P3 in sector 2. And we were actually okay in sector 2 also in qualifying just now which is where all the corners are. We have an issue where we’re very slow in sector 1 and 3 with our engine so I think we’re fine, we actually have a good car. We just need to fix the issue.”
Sainz’s encouraging pace offers a glimmer of hope for the Grove-based team at the Belgian GP. Should Williams resolve their ongoing technical issues, both drivers stand to benefit from the latest upgrade package. For now, however, Carlos Sainz is set to face the Haas cars largely alone at the front, while Alex Albon will struggle to make headway through the midfield. With this coming sprint race, the team will be looking to gather crucial data that could help fine-tune the car before qualifying.
