Sainz, bad day at home: “Unfortunately, this year is a lost year”

Carlos Sainz He was very satisfied with the feeling that a circuit like the one gives to the driver. Madring in its debut in F1, a track of which the Madrid native is an ambassador, participating in its design to ensure that this track has character and is complicated. They did it.

However, The Madrid native regretted not having a good car to aspire to a better result. His Williams, still heavy and not standing out in any point, did not allow him to shine and was 17th, 5 thousandths away from the Q2 cut-off.

However, one 3 place penalty for bothering Valtteri Bottas It made his day worse. He will have to start 20th in front of his fans with a car with which he will have a very difficult time gaining positions.

The feeling of driving in Madrid for the first time in qualifying

“Very good, actually, I’m really enjoying racing at home and above all I think it’s a great circuit. After one lap I really enjoyed qualifying, and unfortunately I don’t have a car to fight for long and we know that this year is going to be a very difficult year here in Madrid, but as I said, I think it’s a great circuit and after one lap we enjoyed it a lot. Now we have to improve for future years to see if I have a better car.”

The atmosphere of the public?

“Very good, I think it’s a public that was looking forward to this Formula 1 here. It shows and I think that both the public and the drivers are enjoying it.”

Looking forward to this evolution of Baku

“Yes, looking forward to it, but you have seen, we are half a second away from the next one. So, even if we bring half a second, if we don’t bring half a second, more than half a second we will not improve (because there will be no more evolutions during the year). So I hope it will be more than that and we can take a little leap forward.”

It was 5 thousandths that separated you from Q2, but the position wouldn’t change much either.

“No, that’s why, unfortunately, this year is a lost year in that sense for me. I have won races, I have done pole positions and finishing between 16th and 17th does not change my life (then he was penalized and will start 20th). Furthermore, we have not had a good quali, I was missing two or three tenths on the straights, we started super early for the last run on a street circuit where there is a lot of track evolution, we have not had a good quali and in the end, yes, maybe those 5 thousandths end up being paid”.

Define the circuit

It is a very fun circuit, which in one lap is very enjoyable, it reminds me a lot of Jeddah, a circuit that goes very, very fast between walls and you have to take risks, which is something very fun, but we have to see if we can also make a circuit that also has fun races and that is what we will see this Sunday and we will see if something needs to be changed. Overtaking seems very complicated, that’s why I say it.”

Fernando has said that it is a shame that in a curve as beautiful as ‘La Monumental’ the difference is not made no matter how many “attributes” the driver gives it and that the amount of electrical energy from the engine does.

“In your car, for sure, because I think it has a very bad engine, I think they have to go full throttle even without the battery, so… yes, in the cars in front I think it is curved.”

Are you surprised to be ahead of the Don Martín here too? “No, there are a couple of straights where we take them out, then they take us out in a curve. We are not where we both want.”