The F1 Austrian GP was one for the books, but for Williams Racing, this was a weekend to forget. The British team had a horrendous Sunday, with drivers Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz unable to make it to the end. In fact, the Spaniard never got going.
As the list of problems multiplies each weekend, the team faces setbacks after a high-performing streak at the start of the season. With 3 Q1 knockouts in a row for Sainz and 3 straight DNFs for Albon, the blows keep coming.
Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz’s start at Williams has given him more lows than highs, with Sunday’s Grand Prix being the most upsetting one for the Spaniard.
During the formation lap, Sainz struggled to start his car, leading to an aborted start.
He informed the team, saying, “The car is stuck in first gear“.
In a bad turn of events, as he drove towards the end of the pit lane, the rear of his car caught fire as the brakes overheated spectacularly, and his engineer ordered him to jump out of the vehicle.
“Game over, Carlos, jump out.”
A look of disbelief graced the Williams pit wall; team principal James Vowles sat there with a hand on his face as he saw Carlos Sainz retire his car before he could begin his formation lap.
“Too many issues yesterday, too many issues today. This weekend I couldn’t show the true pace that I know we had and that leaves me frustrated,” said the four-time race winner.
“Too many issues” is a sentiment Sainz has expressed infinite times during weekends; at the Canadian GP, he expressed his upset over mistakes as he finished the race without his teammate. Two weeks later, he shared the same thoughts, except much more disappointed.
He continued to express his frustration over not being able to show how confidently he could have performed, though he held out hope, saying: “It’s time to stay focused and work even harder as a team to learn from this tricky period and bounce back.”
With the upcoming British Grand Prix being the team’s home race, the Spaniard hopes to leave the disappointment behind and remains “confident” that with proper execution, it can be a positive weekend in the team’s favor.
Alex Albon
Albon’s race ended prematurely and suddenly, with 3 DNFs in a row; he cited his worry and frustration over a poorly executed weekend.
With what looked like a promising race as P6 looked on the cards at least, Albon reflected on the team’s persistent struggles:
“I am obviously in massive frustration, especially after such a good first lap. Well, maybe something after the pitstop just picked up. Yeah, it looks like… similar to Canada, if anything.”
The Thai stated that reliability has become a key issue for the team as they have failed to give a reliable car to both drivers recently.
“Yeah, we need to review it, obviously. We’ve had three DNFs in a row now. So we’re picking up the… We’re lacking the mileage at the moment.”
To get Albon’s perspective on what he thought has caused the recent gremlins, he believes the very hot temperatures at recent races could be a factor.
“I’m not sure. I’m not sure. I don’t know. It’s the same car as it was at the beginning of the year, and it was a lot more reliable at the beginning of the year. I’m not sure if it’s the temperatures that we’re running at that’s making us struggle.”
The car that catapulted him to the top 5 at the beginning of the season is the very car that is the root of all his issues; despite having faced similar problems at the Canadian Grand Prix, Albon said the team had done everything they could to prevent a repeat, but to no avail.
“Yeah, we did, yeah,” he confirmed when asked if the team had kept the same Power Unit used in Montreal. “I mean, we did long-running in traffic as well. Just a double-check, triple-check. And then we come to the race, and it’s still an issue, so…”
Before the retirement, Albon looked strong during the early stages of his race; he was building momentum, overtook Gasly, and could potentially have pressured George Russell for 5th.
“Yeah, I would say a little bit fortunate,” he admitted about what happened at turn 3 on lap 1 to move up from P12 to P7.
“The waves parted a little bit, but we were in the right place at the right time, and we had a good car, had a nice overtake on Pierre, and we were pulling away from the cars behind her. I was actually catching George towards the end of my stint, and then we covered off the gas here, I think, and then we ran into each other.”
Unlike Sainz, Albon disclosed concerns as they move on to his home race in Silverstone.
“Yeah, I’m a little bit worried. I don’t know. I don’t know. What we can do, we can’t afford it to happen in Silverstone, because I think that’s a good track for us,” he admitted to the print media pen.
Missing out on points in Austria was particularly painful; he reiterated his frustration, especially on a day when several front-runners failed to finish, opening a rare window of opportunity that slipped through their fingers.
“We’ve missed out on good points today, and in fact our rivals are going to score some good points, so we’ve really missed out, with all the DNFs happening to the top teams. Yeah, very frustrating.”
Looking ahead to Silverstone, Albon hopes that the team can regroup and find a solution to end their bad luck streak.
“I’m not sure the next track being a home track, if that helps us a bit, just with efficiency, getting things to the car, but we’ll deep dive and try to find a solution.”
Williams started the season strongly, but the last three Grand Prix races have raised concerns about their performance. Both drivers are focused and ready for the team’s home race at the iconic Silverstone track, hoping that the energetic atmosphere will be enough to return them to their previous success.
