Carlos Sainz has admitted Williams knew scoring points consistently would be difficult during its recent run of races after the Spaniard slipped to 14th place at the Singapore Grand Prix despite an excellent start. Battery problems and a lack of race pace prevented Carlos Sainz from defending a position inside the top 10, while Alex Albon was forced to retire late in the race with technical issues.
Williams had appeared to regain some momentum when Carlos Sainz finished 10th in Baku, raising hopes at Grove after a prolonged run of difficult races. However, the team’s problems quickly resurfaced in Singapore, where Carlos Sainz eventually finished 14th, ahead of Arvid Lindblad’s Racing Bulls.
Carlos Sainz loses Singapore points position after strong start
Carlos Sainz initially produced an excellent getaway and climbed into the points-paying positions, reaching 10th place after overtaking several cars. The former Ferrari driver was unable to defend that position for long, however, and began losing places during the opening stages of the Grand Prix.
“It was a difficult race and I’m disappointed that we weren’t able to stay in the points,” Carlos Sainz said. “I had a great launch at the start, overtaking several cars and moving up to 10th position; however, after experiencing battery problems in the opening laps, we quickly lost two positions and, overall, we lacked the necessary race pace.”
Carlos Sainz nevertheless believes he has extracted everything available from the Williams over the team’s latest sequence of races, particularly since the new upgrade package was introduced in Baku.
“I feel I’ve had a good run of three consecutive races and got the maximum out of the car since the new package was introduced in Baku, but we knew it would be difficult to finish regularly in the points. Now we’ll switch off for a little while so we can come back refreshed for the next triple-header.”
Alex Albon retires from his Singapore ‘home’ race
The weekend proved even more frustrating for Alex Albon, who considers Marina Bay his home race because of his Thai heritage. Unlike Carlos Sainz, the British-born driver was unable to reach the finish, retiring only a few laps before the end because of technical problems.
“A frustrating end to my home race, especially because we had good pace and were able to fight on equal terms with the RBs and Aston Martins,” Alex Albon said. “Physically I feel pretty good despite the brutal race conditions, which shows the excellent work that has gone into developing our cooling vest.”
Alex Albon was also encouraged by Williams’ tyre performance, with degradation proving less problematic than some of the other issues the team had to manage throughout the race.
“The tyres performed really well: degradation was minimal and the soft compound proved very durable. Throughout the race we had to manage problems with both fuel and the brakes; every time we got close to the cars ahead, the brakes started to overheat, forcing us to slow down.”
Williams now has time to analyse Singapore problems
After managing the problems for more than 50 laps, Williams eventually decided there was little value in continuing with Alex Albon’s car and retired it early in an effort to protect the machinery.
“In the end, we retired early to preserve the car after managing it for more than 50 laps,” Alex Albon explained. “We have a little time before the next run of three races to analyse the data, rebuild some spare parts and get back on track.”
Williams therefore leaves Singapore without the result Carlos Sainz’s strong start had initially suggested was possible. Although the Spaniard believes his recent performances have maximised the potential of the updated car, the Singapore race underlined the difficulty of turning Williams’ progress into regular points when battery, brake and race-pace limitations come into play.
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