Carlos Sainz found massive success in Qualifying on Saturday at the Saudi Arabian GP. Starting Sunday’s race from P6, ahead of a Ferrari and a Red Bull in his fifth race for Williams Racing.
Sainz encouraged by Qualifying result after three great practice sessions
Coming into Qualifying, Sainz finished in the top seven of all three practice sessions, showing some serious pace around the streets of Jeddah. While speaking to print media after Qualifying, Sainz spoke about the pace that he found in the FW47
“Yeah, definitely another good weekend so far. Right from the start of FP1 feeling a step better and going in the right direction with the set-up and driving, still having to think a lot to pull some good laps together but definitely feeling more at home and more comfortable with things. Yeah, happy and proud with the progress that we’re making, with the direction we’re following.”
Williams looks to be the best of the rest over the first two days of the Saudi Arabian GP weekend. However, while Sainz’s teammate Alex Albon found similar top-10 success in every session, he failed to crack into Q3, qualifying P11. The Spanish driver, on the other hand, extracted everything he could from the FW47 and hopes to continue to do so as the season progresses.
“Second weekend in a row that we must be quite close to the limit of the car, given that we managed to beat a Red Bull and a Ferrari and obviously a McLaren with a crash. So yeah, let’s keep going in that direction, keep following the same philosophy, one step at a time and it will come as it’s coming little by little.”
More experience with the car has made all the difference for Sainz
Coming from the fundamentally different Scuderia Ferrari car he had driven for the previous four seasons, Sainz had to go back to basics to adapt his driving style to his new Williams car. His mental load of relearning how to compete in a new car has eased and allowed him to find a lot of confidence coming into his fifth outing at the Saudi Arabian GP.
“Yeah, this is a very confidence driven circuit, you need a lot of confidence to master the car around the walls, the speed that we’re going and you need to trust the car and I feel like definitely this weekend we have a step closer to being comfortable, given that it’s a very high confidence track, I’ve been competitive so it shows the progress and then the direction we’re going is the positive one.”
However, a few standout performances do not guarantee smooth sailing from here on out. Sainz acknowledges that there will likely continue to be setbacks regardless of his growing familiarity with the car.
“At the same time, I’m sure there will be a lot more setbacks, so I will need to learn from and try to set up directions for driving style that I’ll get wrong, but trial and error will keep working and give me the awareness of what I need to do to be quick with this car and yeah, for now it’s definitely paying off.”
Sainz on his game-plan for tomorrow’s Saudi Arabian GP
The fast, narrow street circuit of Jeddah provides the perfect conditions for a risky, high-octane grand prix full of close battles. Coming off of a DNF after a fight with Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda, Sainz has to decide whether or not to pick his battles more carefully or compete his hardest start to finish.
“I need to think a bit about it, I think I’ll go tonight and think about whether I’m going to put on a good fight like I did in Bahrain with them. And challenge them and make myself as wide as possible or pick better my fights in the heat of the battle, it will be tough to stay disciplined, but my feeling tells me probably tomorrow is a better day to live to fight another day and give myself a good chance of finishing in the points.”
Sainz’s commendable qualifying position will be both an advantage and a disadvantage in Sunday’s Saudi Arabian GP. With faster cars before and after him in the starting grid, the race is sure to be a grind for the Spanish driver.
“It seems like the top cars managed to overheat the tyres a lot less than the midfield, so I expect a very difficult race tomorrow to keep the two or three cars that I have clearly quicker behind me.”
The four-time race winner is up to the challenge however, sharing that he looks forward to continuing to push the limits of the FW47.
“I discovered lots of new things and tomorrow I hope to do the same, put together a solid race and bring home the first big haul of points for Williams from my side, which is the target.”
