Carlos Sainz

Sainz reveals his major problem at Williams: ‘I don’t feel at home with it’

14:36, 12 Sep

bySamson Ero

Carlos Sainz has touched on his problems with the Williams FW47 car. The Spanish driver has largely endured a torrid start to his chapter at the Grove-based outfit.

The 31-year-old, who was a major part of the Formula 1 domino effect, which kicked off with Lewis Hamilton replacing him at Scuderia Ferrari, stressed how he continues to execute race weekends.

The four-time Grand Prix winner again endured another outing to forget at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, detailing his encounter with a few problems he cannot seem to drive around. Speaking in an interview, Sainz stated:

“Executing weekends. I know I have the speed with the car. I don’t feel particularly at home with it. The car has some weaknesses that I cannot drive around them or I cannot tune a set-up to get rid of those weaknesses."

"And you need to drive the car in a very particular way to do a maximum lap, the best possible lap time, and it doesn’t particularly suit my driving style in that way.”

Sainz currently trails teammate Alex Albon by a 54-point deficit in the drivers’ standings. While the margin to his teammate appears particularly wide, considering he has only been able to muster 16 points of his own, the former Ferrari driver has largely matched the Thai on one-lap pace.

The pair are currently tied on eight races apiece with regard their head to their head-to-head in qualifying.

Carlos Sainz

Sainz on his outing in Monza

Carlos Sainz earlier reflected on his outing at the Italian Grand Prix. The Williams driver, who finished the Grand Prix in 11th place, detailed how difficult it continues to be for him to adjust to the demands of the FW47 car.

Speaking with GPblog following the conclusion of the race, he stated:

“I think I've been feeling good with the car all year, relatively good. I mean, it's not a car I love to drive, it's not my driving style that I love to do, it's a very particular thing that you need to do with the driving, but when you look at it for a first year, my qualifying record and my race pace are always good. It's just putting our souls together. We are struggling a lot as a team. Today, we also had battery issues during the whole race that we didn't have on Friday."

"So, always little things, incidents, a little bit of strategy, a little bit of new things that despite having a good pace all year, we didn't seem to catch a break.”

Sainz also suffered damage to his car following a collision with Oliver Bearman. The incident with the British driver marked the second consecutive race in which he was involved in a collision with another driver.

The Williams driver will, however, now shift his focus to achieving a much cleaner race weekend when the F1 paddock heads to Baku for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.