Williams’ Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz reflect on a their F1 Sprint Qualifying results and look ahead to the sessions to come at the Chinese GP. Both drivers noted balance issues heading into tomorrow’s Sprint race and Qualifying session.
A respectable P9 finish in Sprint Qualifying leaves Williams’ Alex Albon with work to do on Saturday. While the Thai driver says he was pretty happy with the result, he admits there is still work to do on the set-up of his FW47.
As the sprint weekend limits practice to just a single 1 hour session, stakes are high across the Formula 1 paddock. Speaking after the Sprint Qualifying session Albon claims his Williams has not quite gelled with the circuit with setup work yet to be done.
“Not bad, I’m pretty happy,” Albon replied when asked about the session. “I think we have a bit of work to do with the car. I think this track isn’t quite suiting us at the minute. We need to make some changes. Obviously we can’t for the Sprint race, but afterwards to just tie up the balance, high speed – low speed, a bit better.
“Tyres are not that easy to know what to do with them. The tyres are, we’ve seen it this year so far, very sensitive. Long corners like they are in China, tend to make those tyres work a bit harder. It’s hard to get them in a good place, so we’ll do some work overnight and try to get back stronger tomorrow.”
Further delving into tyre issues, Albon says he has been confident in the car despite struggling with the tyres. Looking ahead to tomorrow’s Sprint race, he suggested graining will play a big part throughout.
“Not really, no. I’ve been feeling confident in the car full stop,” he replied when asked if his confidence built throughout the session. “Just struggling to get the tyres to do what I want them to do and hold on in the right way. It feels like you have to manage them and overmanage them. In many ways it’s not that comfortable.
“Graining is going to be a big talking point [tomorrow]. The fronts especially. Which is what’s been hard in the low fuel as well, but in the high fuel it gets out of control.
“I think it’s going to be a very managed race unfortunately. It might look a bit boring in the first few laps and then you’ll see a bit of a race towards the end.”
Sprint qualifying results were not so good on the other side of the Williams’ garage with Sainz only managing P13. Speaking after the session the Spaniard cited “too many issues” as he echoed Albon’s comments on set-up. While not happy with the balance of the car, he also looked inward as he blamed over driving as a factor.
“It’s been a tough day up until now,” Sainz explained as he reflected on the session. “We’re struggling with some balance problems. Especially coming into Q2; not knowing exactly where to find the lap time and, a bit over driving and a bit of a problem with the seat.
“Yeah, a few too many issues which meant we couldn’t go through. We’ll try and learn from it so we can apply tomorrow in the day that counts for quali.”
Continuing on, Sainz admits he is still struggling with a lack of time in the FW47. With the Spaniard’s early DNF in Australia he is at a distinct disadvantage having joined the team this season. He explained that qualifying pace is a struggle due to his limited experience at the wheel.
“It’s been a difficult weekend up until now with trying to find the balance of the car,” he explained. “It feels quite different here with the wind. I’m still struggling to find lap time when it comes to qualifying.
“It’s just getting the laps in. I feel like I’m still short on mileage with learning the car and how to drive it, especially when it comes to qualifying. So just getting the mileage up and understanding where to go faster.”
