Carlos Sainz: “At least we can see that we are fighting with the steering wheel and that we have to give everything to get to Q2”

Carlos Sainz will start 16th in the 2026 Formula 1 Mexican GP this Sunday after maximizing the poor performance of his Williams to achieve the maximum objective that his car allows him to aspire to: enter Q2.

The Madrid driver was satisfied for having achieved it with a car with which he did not feel completely comfortable in the Hermanos Rodríguez Autodromeand with whom he had to fight thoroughly with his steering wheel in fast corners, as highlighted on ‘DAZN’.

It helped him that other drivers with better cars could not start from higher up, such as the case of one of the Haas, Hirakawa, who had the difficult challenge of debuting in his first F1 classification and therefore could not advance to Q2. Or the clear case of Fernando Alonso who this time had a car to get close to Q3, but his Honda engine failed in Q1.

“We have maximized the opportunity that Mexico has given us with the issues that have arisen in Q1 and the problems that others have had, because we have done the job that was to move on to Q2,” said the man from Madrid in Q2.

“Today, honestly, I was less comfortable with the car, it was difficult for me to put the lap together, and although in the end we managed to advance to Q2 with a decent lap“It’s true that I was a little less comfortable,” he highlighted, especially highlighting the difficulties he had in fast corners, where he was struggling with the steering wheel.

“You can see it from the outside at least. At least you can see that we are fighting (with the steering wheel) and that we have to give everything to get to Q2, because this end of the season is really costing us a lot,” he said.