Carlos Sainz endured a tough Formula 1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix, as early contact with Lewis Hamilton hampered the Spaniard’s charge to another points-paying finish.
The Williams driver confirmed that a Lap 1 collision with the Ferrari of Hamilton left his front wing damaged.
This ultimately forced Sainz to manage a significant imbalance in the car for the remainder of the race at Interlagos, costing the 31-year-old another shot at points.
After the race, the Spaniard explained how his FW47 was severely hampered by the touch that occurred as the pack bottlenecked into Turn 1 at lights out.
“Yeah, I think I got squeezed by… I think it was Lewis on the outside and I picked up front-wing damage that compromised my race for the rest of the race,” Sainz reported when talking to media, including Motorsport Week.
Despite this early setback, Sainz fought for a possible top 10 finish. But the damage sustained to his car was enough to derail his race.
The loss of William’s aerodynamics cost Sainz grip and downforce in the high-speed sectors of the track.
“I was a lot of points down on my front wing and as a consequence the rest of the car,” Sainz added.
“But yeah, we managed to stay in the race, managed to stay in the hunt for points.”
Unfortunately, Sainz’s woes continued when a slow pitstop wipped out the Spaniard’s chances of a strategic undercut, that could have brought him closer to the top 10.
“Then a slow pitstop when we were going to undercut a few cars, also another step back,” he said.
“And from there, yeah, just always chasing the points. We were always P11, P12, P11, P12, hanging on there with a damaged car.
“In the end we were just a few seconds away from the points, which probably without the damage and without the slow pitstop potentially we could have been there.”
Looking forward to Vegas
The visible front-wing damage was not enough for Williams to replace the part during the race. As Sainz revealed, the time lost in the pits would outweigh anny performance gained from a new wing.
“No, we would have lost too much time and you’re better off adding flaps, trying to compensate it and going for it.”
Despite the challenges that Interlagos brought the team, Williams and Sainz are already shifting their focus to the next race in Las Vegas.
Sainz believes that the street circuit layout of Vegas will play into the team’s hands, and add valuable points to Williams’ points haul for 2025.
“For me, as a team it’s just important to understand how we can keep improving the weakness of the long, medium, low speed, long corner that always compromises us,” Sainz emphasised.
“Luckily, Vegas next, which is completely the opposite to this and probably the cars that were strong here will be weak in Vegas and vice versa.”
Throughout the season, the FW47 has shown flashes of competitiveness, aiding Sainz to two podium finishes at low-downforce tracks.
However, there are several tweaks that Sainz believes the team must make in order to have a strong final three races.
“Just as a team we need to get on top of those issues which compromise and will compromise Qatar, compromise here, so keen to keep working as a team on that.”
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