The F1 Chinese GP was a rollercoaster of emotions, with McLaren’s 1-2 and numerous disqualifications, and the race ended with another challenging performance for the Spaniard Carlos Sainz of Williams, who once again found himself behind his teammate Alex Albon.
A good strategy with bad pace
After the race, Carlos Sainz admitted he still doesn’t have an answer for the performance gap, despite being quick during the pre-tests with Williams. He questioned where the issue lies and how they can overcome it in time for the Japanese Grand Prix.
After finishing 13th on the road, he was promoted to P10 following the DSQs of the Ferraris and Pierre Gasly. He ended up 20s adrift of his Williams teammate.
“We got it right with the strategy, unfortunately, the pace of the car was…we were just not there, struggling with the front tyres again.”
From good initial feelings to lacking speed
He was particularly puzzled by the sudden loss of speed, given how competitive he had been during the pre-season testing.
“A bit puzzled to be honest, not happy because ever since I jumped in this car I was very quick in testing so I don’t know where the pace has gone for this weekend. At least we have a good 10 days to analyse what went wrong and put together a plan to come back stronger in Japan.”
Sainz reflected on the strange performance swings he’s been experiencing this season, highlighting the stark difference from the strong speed he had in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi to the struggles in China.
“One of the strangest swings of performance I have had in my career, going from naturally super quick in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, even at the beginning of Australia and then suddenly the pace has just seemed to fall away from me.
“We did a lot of set-up changes that on my side of the garage, what Alex and I did were pretty similar, on his side [the car] seemed to respond well to the front graining and he was a lot stronger today, on my side it didn’t seem to help much.”
An investigation ahead for Williams
Carlos Sainz expressed his confusion about the weekend’s performance in an interview with ESPN. While he’s convinced something went wrong, the Spanish driver emphasised that they are working to find an explanation.
He noted that considering how fast the car was in Bahrain in the pre-season testing — and Abu Dhabi post-season testing in 2024 — it’s strange how everything seems to have vanished in just one weekend.
“Yes, that is what we are going to do this next days. I’m convinced that something is not going well this weekend and we must find the reason and an explanation.
“It is also true that It’s a bit strange, considering how fast the car was going in Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, suddenly it appears that everything has vanished in a weekend and it’s something that confuses me a bit, so is something we will analyse with calm.
“I will get there, but honestly, with this car, since I first jumped in the car, I felt very quick. That’s why I don’t understand this weekend, the fact that i wasn’t fast because I’ve been quick since the moment I jumped in the Williams.
“For some reason this weekend there has been something in my part or by the car set-up that we have to analyse since is not normal how slow I was.”
The first real race
Carlos Sainz reflected on his performance after the Grand Prix last Sunday, acknowledging that this race was his first real test with the team. Despite doing fastest of all in Bahrain testing he struggled with the car throughout the weekend, facing issues with tire performance and front graining.
He did not run in Australia as a crash at the end of the opening lap brought his debut to a very early end.
“Yes, very, very complicated. Well, in the end, this has actually been my first race with the team, right? After not being able to race in Australia. This was my first real test with the car.
“And clearly, for some reason, this weekend it didn’t work. We were very slow. From yesterday to today, we made many changes to the car set-up on both cars.
“Alex seems to have benefited from it and managed to finish in the points. As for me, I kept struggling a lot with the front graining, opening up [the tyres] too much.”
Keeping an eye on Japan and their rivals
“Both with the medium and hard tyres, it just didn’t go fast, so there’s a lot to analyse, a bit confusing, right? Because I was very fast in the Abu Dhabi tests, I was very fast in Bahrain, and for some reason, all that speed from the tests just disappeared in a single blow in this first real race with the team.”
He mentioned the confusion of not matching the speed he had shown in testing and emphasised the need for a thorough analysis over the next 10 days to identify improvements.
“So, there’s a lot to analyze, and we need these 10 days to carefully review everything and see what we can do better. There isn’t a lot of time, but at least a week, 10 days, and I’m sure we’ll find something and come back stronger.”
Sainz also noted the strong performance of the Haas cars but remains confident that, with further adjustments, he’ll be able to compete at the level he expects.
“The Haas a bit like last year, seem to have improved a lot, but I expect that if I were where I should be, I’d be up there too. The thing is, we’re not there yet, and we need to figure out why.”
