Carlos Sainz has completed his first qualifying session with Williams, and it was an immediate success for the Spaniard. The backmarker team has typically been fighting for the last positions on the grid in recent years, but the arrival of the Madrid-born driver seems to be paying off already. Both Carlos Sainz Jr and teammate Alexander Albon made it to Q3 in Melbourne. The Spaniard hopes to take advantage of the expected rain on Sunday to improve his starting position.
“It was a very good day for the team,” Carlos Sainz immediately begins in an interview with F1TV. “We had two cars in Q3, and Alex (Albon, ed.) even qualified in fifth place. I myself took the tenth spot. But that was really the maximum achievable, which we had also hoped for.”
Despite Sainz being pleased with the result for Williams, the Madrid-born driver would have liked to start the race in Melbourne from an even better position. He explains: “I would have liked to have been more competitive in Q3, but I didn’t know where to get more speed from the car. I wasn’t driving uncomfortably during the entire qualification. As a result, I couldn’t drive the fast lap in the way I had hoped. But the more qualifications I drive and the more I learn about the car, the more speed I can extract.”
First Laps in the Rain
The weather in Melbourne is unpredictable, and rain is expected during the opening race at the Albert Park Circuit. Does Sainz hope to fight his way forward under these deviating conditions? “That is certainly the goal, to improve our starting position,” Sainz says. “It was very close during the qualification and tomorrow in the rain it’s a different story. It will be my first laps in the rain in this car, so I have no idea what will happen.”
