At the F1 Canadian GP, Carlos Sainz secured a solitary point for Williams Racing by crossing the line in 10th place. However, technical troubles forced him to spend the entire race focused on preserving the car rather than showing his full pace.
Willing to fight, but lacking the means
As Sainz explained, with his P16 position, he would never have imagined that he would score points after getting blocked by Isack Hadjar in Q1.
“Yeah. I think after the impeding of yesterday, starting 16th, if you’d have told me before the race that we would get a point, it would have probably been a good result.”
Nevertheless, as Sainz had to manage issues, he couldn’t push fully despite having a strong pace. The 70 laps felt frustrating for the Spaniard.
The unexpected outcome leaves much to be desired
“But after having spent 70 laps managing issues and not being able really to push or race, with issues in the car. I’m a bit frustrated that we couldn’t just spend 70 laps not pushing. Still, [we] make it to a point.”
Despite securing points during the weekend, Carlos Sainz admitted there was a sense of frustration behind the result.
“Obviously happy with that, but I wish I could have pushed a bit more and shown the potential that we have as a team.”
An impeding blow on a weekend full of promise
Every team knows that at least qualifying session per year is bound to go wrong for various reasons. For Sainz, it came at the worst possible moment.
The frustration of that Q1 block turned what could have been a promising Canadian GP into frustration.
When Williams Racing finally looked very competitive following a difficult weekend in Spain, the penalty came like a cold shower. However, Sainz faced the setback head-on.
“I think quali-wise, it was out of our control. Yesterday I was frustrated with everyone and everything. But looking back, during the year, you’re always gonna get 1/2 impeeding per year. It was my turn this weekend.
“It was my turn this weekend with Isack. Yeah, it came in the wrong weekend where we were very competitive. I take it on the chin and move on.”
The superior pace but in the wrong position
Despite dealing with problems throughout the race, the Spanish driver demonstrated good pace without even pushing the car to its limits.
This left him feeling that the team missed out on numerous valuable points. Reflecting on the season, a better weekend execution is essential for Williams to unlock their full performance potential.
“But at the same time today, when I was doing the race and I was seeing that I was faster than the whole midfield without even pushing on this car with the issues we were handling, it makes me feel like we’ve left points a lot of points in the table.
“So still the story of the year we need to execute weekends better to be able to maximise the performance we have.”
