Carlos Sainz explained that track conditions were not ideal for Williams during qualifying for the F1 Dutch GP, admitting he aimed to fight for a higher starting position than P9.
After a strong showing in Saturday’s morning practice session, Sainz had set his sights on a similar result in qualifying. However, the earlier pace of the car had faded, leaving him P9, while teammate Alex Albon endured his own struggles, exiting in Q2 to start P15 on Sunday.
Warmer conditions hurt Williams’ performance
Speaking to media in the TV Pen after the session, Sainz attributed this step down in performance to a shift in track conditions, which he says impacted his pace during qualifying.
“Yeah, probably we lost just relative performance,” he said. “Track temp went up quite a bit from FP3 to qualy and I felt like it didn’t suit our car. We went from being P4 and P7 in FP3 to being P9 and P15.
“Clearly a step down on performance compared to FP3 and I felt it straight away in Q1. So, rather than fighting for a top 6 like I was hoping to fight, it was going to be a bit of a survival in Q1 to try and get through Q1 and then try to get through Q2 and then maximise Q3 which today was a P9 which gets us back into Q3 after a difficult Hungary and still a solid weekend up until now.”
On the target for race day
Sainz maintained that he’s aiming for a points finish on Sunday, but admitted that he’s bracing for a “difficult” race ahead.
“Yeah, the target is to give ourselves the best possible chance to move up the order, hopefully a top 8, top 7 with a good start and a good strategy,” he said.
“But at the same time it’s so tight, the field, that I see no differences in race pace across cars and it’s going to be a difficult race to move forward. I think many people will target one stop, but the deg is higher than Hungary, so it will be a very difficult one stop.”
