Carlos Sainz was left with bittersweet feelings about the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix after coming home eighth to make it two Williams cars in the points at Imola. With Alex Albon finishing fifth, the team should have been in full celebratory mode, but the Spaniard felt more was possible in Imola.
Having started ahead of Albon in sixth, Sainz was running solidly in the opening stages – but the team opted to pit the Spaniard early. With plenty opting for a longer first stint, that dropped Sainz into traffic down the order.
He was swiftly on the radio saying that a one-stop was the way forward, even then knowing he was on a less than ideal strategy. But with a Virtual Safety Car period, and then a full Safety Car, the disruption helped him climb back into the top 10 at the flag.
“Obviously a bit unhappy right now after another weekend where we have good pace, strong enough to score a top five today,” Sainz said.
Sainz explains why he’s ‘unhappy’ despite another points finish for Williams
“We were quicker than Mercedes, quicker than Ferrari. I honestly felt really good out there the whole weekend. But for some reason, we don’t seem to catch a break on Sundays with the race execution.
“We pitted really early, [I] felt too early at the time and it obviously was too early in the end. We just need to keep making steps forward in understanding each other on Sundays as, at the moment, it is costing us a lot of points.”
Sainz can take heart from the way he has bounced back after a difficult first few races with the team, where he struggled to feel at one with his car. He turned a corner in the first triple-header and has been performing well ever since.
Scoring points for the past three races would normally be a good reason to smile for a midfield team, but Sainz knows eighth, ninth and another eighth is scant reward in a car that is showing real promise this season.
“It is strange as, if you had told me a few races ago let alone a year ago, that we would be fighting Mercedes and Ferrari on pure pace at these tracks and that I would be upset with a P8, I would be very happy,» he added.
Sainz was running ahead of Albon in the early stages, but finished behind his team mate
“But now the reality is that we had a car the last two weekends to beat them and we haven’t. And this obviously doesn’t make me very happy as I know we have the potential and the speed to beat these teams in these sort of tracks. But we don’t seem to execute well on Sundays.
“But it just means as a team we need to improve, we need to keep making our understanding of each other even better to make sure on Sundays we don’t overcomplicate things and, today, I didn’t expect to have to fight back from P15 to P8, which made my life difficult but we managed to do it.”
However, despite the frustrations evident at Imola, there is still plenty for Sainz to be pleased about as he continues to adjust to life at Williams.
“If on race [seven] I am showing the level that I am showing in terms of speed within the car and how I feel, I know we can only go forward,” he concluded.
«So, I will remain positive and keep pushing each other to improve as a team.»
RACE TICKETS – MONACO
Don’t miss your chance to experience the world’s most famous street circuit…