Sainz: “On our best days, we sometimes manage to sneak into Q2”

He had to be happy for Pierre Gaslyauthor of the most unexpected pole in recent times in Formula 1. But at the same time, he must have thought that the car that gives the surprise should be the Williams. But the reality of Carlos Sainz in 2026 is very different.

Carlos Sainz also has a Mercedes engine like the Alpine and aspired to lead the middle zone this season after the surprising 2025 of Grove’s team. But everything went wrong at the beginning of the year, with the production problems that Williams had for a car that was born late and poorly.with overweight problems that have not yet been overcome, low load and an aerodynamic concept with no room for much improvement.

And so, the Spanish You can’t do anything but focus on a possibly better 2027, and get the most out of the remaining appointments of a car that will lead to an evolution in Baku and that only allows them to aspire to Q2 in the best of cases.

“On our best days, sometimes we managed to sneak into Q2, perhaps overtaking one of the cars in the middle zone. I think it was one of those times in Q1, with a good lap, and then another good lap in Q2 to beat Ocon. So, I think I achieved the maximum. Our small victories, reaching Q2 and overtaking a car in Q2, is all we have right now, until it improves,” commented the Spaniard after maximizing the potential of his car to be 15th, although he will finally start from 13th place due to the sanctions for changing the engine of Kimi Antonelli and Liam Lawson.

Your car does not slipstream well

“On that lap, I had a good slipstream from Charles (Leclerc) in Turn 1, but then I spent the rest of the lap without slipstream, which means that without slipstream, you are much faster in the corner, but then you are very slow on the straights, and on that lap I had to do everything in Parabolica to make up all the time I was losing on the straights. In fact, yes, that was my best Parabolica, but I couldn’t beat my time, because then the rest of the laps I was in slipstream, and our car in slipstream, at high speed, is not fun, but that lap is the lap that left me in Q1, so it was good,” he said about his attempt at the limit.

Sunday’s race: overtake or not?

“I think it depends on your discipline when using the turbo. I think it comes down to how much race time you’re willing to lose by getting into a game of yo-yo with the turbo, and how long in optimal mode you want to stay without using it and just letting the system dictate it. So it’s going to be pretty important depending on who’s around you and who’s willing to get into a yo-yo battle.”