Carlos Sainz labelled his qualifying lap at Formula 1‘s Mexico City Grand Prix his “best of the year”, but a grid penalty threatens to undo much of his good work.
The Spaniard produced a composed and competitive session. He finished comfortably among the top seven, but he will start 12th after his penalty is applied.
Despite the setback, Sainz was upbeat after qualifying, calling his Q3 effort – where he outpaced McLaren’s Oscar Piastri – one of his strongest in the sport to date.
“Well, today I’m going to focus on the positives because it was one of my best qualifying of the year, if not my best lap, probably Q3 lap of the year,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“Yeah, I’m honestly very happy, feeling more and more at home with the car every session that I do, knowing where to go with set-up, with tyres.
“Just put there a really solid lap to fight it out with McLaren and the Mercedes for the top seven, and we managed to get it there, so very happy with that.”
Sainz had endured a difficult final practice session earlier in the day. He explained that some changes helped transform his Williams’ balance heading into qualifying.
“In FP3, I was struggling with some issues. But we changed a couple of things in the car, and it seemed to be solved,” he explained.
“I think we were also struggling a bit with tyres when the track temp was dropping now, but I could get my way around it.
“I think experience in the end is just helping me. Going through all that pain in the middle of the season with tyres.
“I feel like I’ve learned a lot of lessons that I need to apply with this car.
“Today, we were very reactive; we struggled a bit in Q1. But then we got everything going in Q2 and Q3, and we managed to maximise the pace of the car.”
Sainz believes better result was attainable
But while he was pleased with his overall result and pace, Sainz conceded that not having two new sets of the Soft compound in Q3 cost him a chance to achieve more.
“Yeah, especially Q3 and probably only having one set in Q3 maybe limited me to not being able to beat maybe a Mercedes,” he claimed.
“But to be honest, we would have gone through in Q1 and Q2 with a single lap. So it shows that we had a lot of pace today.
“Maybe for the future, being a bit more brave to save a set for Q3 might give us a position or two.
“But I’m very happy, very proud of the team because we’re making huge progress through the year.
“Even if the pace was there at the beginning, now putting things together just shows what we can do.
“It’s the cleanest, probably no mistakes, knowing what to do with the flap, knowing what to do with my steering tools, knowing what to do with my driving, with my racing lines.
“I just put everything together, and when you cross the line and you say that there’s not more than half a tenth in this lap, then you’re like, OK, this is a good one.
“I’ve done good qualis in Miami, Imola, halfway through the year in Silverstone. And I think I did strong Qualis, but nowhere near this.
“Again, we are only two or three tenths of my pole of last year with a Williams. So it shows the progress of the team, the progress I’m doing and we’re getting there.”
Sainz still gunning to achieve points
Despite the pride in his performance, Sainz admitted the reality of the penalty – due to a clash with Andrea Kimi Antonelli in Austin – would sting once race day arrived.
“Tomorrow when I wake up, I say, ‘S**t, now I need to start from P12.’ There will be frustration today, I’m just proud of the job done.
“But tomorrow, just get a good start, see what the cooling of the car allows me to do.
“Here I’m going to be quick, like expected, I’m probably fastest midfield car like I’ve been all the last few races in race pace.
“But here I’ll probably be a bit more limited by the track layout, by the cooling of the car, and see what we can do to recover.
“I’ll do my best, and if the engine or the brakes are running too hot, I’ll just back off and have to bring it home. But I’ll push.”
Asked what he thought was realistically achievable from 12th, Sainz was pragmatic, warning that overtaking at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez is no easy task.
“I think starting P7 with Oscar behind, the maximum we would achieve is a P7 or a P8. Now starting P12 tomorrow, the target is to get to that top eight,” he said.
“Honestly, it’s a big ask because it’s not like the Haas and the Saubers are slow at all. I don’t think we are more than a tenth or two quicker than them in race pace. You need a six-tenths of tyre delta and pace delta here to pass.
“How do we get to a point where I can overtake a midfield car is a tricky bit, also considering how tricky the cooling is.
“So it’s not going to be easy to get to a point. But I just want to be optimistic and believe that we can do it.”
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