Carlos Sainz’s F1 São Paulo GP ended in frustration after early contact with Lewis Hamilton compromised his entire race. The Williams driver suffered front wing damage at the start of the race that left him playing catch up at Interlagos. Sainz eventually finished P13, seconds outside of the top 10, behind him teammate Alex Albon. The Williams duo failed to score points in Brazil.
Early contact ruins Sainz’s F1 São Paulo GP
The incident occurred at the race start when Sainz got caught between multiple cars. This left the Williams driver with significant front wing damage that affected his performance throughout the race.
“Yeah, I think I got squeezed by… I think it was Lewis on the outside and I picked up front-wing damage that compromised my race for the rest of the race,” he stated.
The damage had consequences beyond just the front wing damage during Sainz’s São Paulo GP. The aerodynamic imbalance affected the entire car’s performance, making it hard to extract pace: “I was a lot of points down on my front wing and as a consequence the rest of the car. But yeah, we managed to stay in the race, managed to stay in the hunt for points.”
Slow pitstop adds to frustration
A slow pit stop further hampered Sainz’s São Paulo GP recovery efforts. Williams had planned to undercut several cars ahead, but the delay cost valuable track position:
“Then a slow pit stop when we were going to undercut a few cars, also another step back. And from there, yeah, just always chasing the points. We were always P11, P12, P11, P12, hanging on there with a damaged car.“
Sainz spent the majority of his São Paulo GP hovering just outside of the points positions. Both the damage and pitstop issues left him constantly fighting from behind.
“In the end we were just a few seconds away from the points, which probably without the damage and without the slow pitstop potentially we could have been there. At least the car, until then, it felt a lot better than the rest of the weekend,” he stated.
Williams opts against wing change
Williams made the strategic decision not to replace Sainz’s damaged front wing during his São Paulo GP. The team decided that the time loss would be greater than continuing with the damage: “No, we would have lost too much time and you’re better off adding flaps, trying to compensate it and going for it,” he stated when asked regarding the decision. While the situation was not ideal, it allowed Sainz to maintain track position and stay in contention for points.
Health improvement throughout the weekend
Sainz had been struggling with illness earlier in the weekend, missing Thursday’s media sessions. Race day was the first day he felt fully recovered. “Today is the first day I felt 100%, and actually the car also felt a lot better today,” Sainz stated the past Sunday.
Looking ahead to Las Vegas
The next race is Las Vegas and should suit Williams’ characteristics more than Interlagos did. Sainz explained the team’s ongoing challenges with certain corner types after his São Paulo GP: “For me, as a team it’s just important to understand how we can keep improving the weakness of the long, medium, low speed, long corner that always compromises us.“
He added: “Luckily, Vegas next, which is completely the opposite to this and probably the cars that were strong here will be weak in Vegas and vice versa.”
However, Sainz emphasized the importance of addressing fundamental issues for the remaining calendar. Qatar will present similar challenges to those faced during his São Paulo GP: “Just as a team we need to get on top of those issues which compromise and will compromise Qatar, compromise here, so keen to keep working as a team on that.”
