Albon rues ‘messy race’ as Sainz says ‘nothing went our way’ in Spain as Williams fail to score for first time since Bahrain

Williams were expecting a tough time of it in Spain, a track that has not historically suited their car. But their Sunday went from bad to worse, with Alex Albon retiring after breaking two front wings, while Carlos Sainz trailed home towards the back of the field after also losing a front wing.

The day began in a tricky fashion for the team as both drivers suffered broken front wings at the start – Albon having already lost a handful of places after a sluggish getaway before a coming together with a Kick Sauber handed him damage.

He dropped to the back after pitting early for a replacement front wing, Sainz joining him after also taking a long pit stop to replace his nose. Albon then made contact with Liam Lawson as those two fought for position across a number of laps.

Another broken wing was the result – the team’s third of the day – and they opted to retire Albon’s car after he had served a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage when fighting with Lawson.

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 01: Alexander Albon of Thailand driving the (23) Williams FW47 Mercedes — Albon suffered front wing damage fighting with Lawson midway through the race

“I don’t remember all of it to be honest, it was a bit of a messy race,” said Albon. “We had an issue with the clutch at the start so we fell back. We then had contact in Turn 1 which damaged the front wing.

“I think there was a Haas in front that had to avoid a crash or collision or contact. Then with Liam, I don’t think they had that much straight-line speed, the [Racing Bulls], so they were a little bit diving in to try and overtake us, which is fair enough.

“But I don’t think I deserved the penalty, I had to avoid him to not crash because he dived in too late. And then on the second one, I tried to get out of the way, I knew he was going to try around the outside but I didn’t have the tyres really. But it is what it is, hopefully we’ll get it all out the way and get focused for Canada.”

BARCELONA, SPAIN - JUNE 01: Carlos Sainz of Spain driving the (55) Williams FW47 Mercedes leads — Sainz had a tough race towards the back of the field

Sainz, meanwhile, finished 14th and nearly 30 seconds off the leaders despite the late Safety Car bunching up the field.

“The car in clean air and when the front wing was okay was fine, nothing special like we knew coming into the weekend, but we had front wing damage on Lap 1. We also had a slow pit stop because of that, we had engine overheating for most of the laps of the race,” added Sainz.

“So nothing really went our way, we were stuck in the middle of nowhere. The little laps we had in clean air we had decent pace but it was too late.”

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This was the first time Sainz had failed to finish in the points on home soil, ending a run that stretched back to his debut in 2015.

The result in Barcelona also ended the points scoring run the team had enjoyed up until that point, with the previous four races seeing both drivers finish in the top 10. But with Haas failing to score, Williams remain fifth in the championship – with Racing Bulls leapfrogging the American team to be Williams’ closest challenger in the midfield.