The difficult season of Carlos Sainz continued at Monza, where the Spanish driver once again missed out on a place in the points. The Williams driver was fighting with Oliver Bearman for a top ten finish when the Haas rookie made a mistake, hitting the rear of Sainz’s FW47 and sending him into a spin. It was another frustrating weekend for the Spaniard, who has openly admitted that he does not feel comfortable with his new car.
At the Italian Grand Prix, on a track where he had many successful years wearing Ferrari red, Carlos Sainz faced yet another disappointing weekend in his first campaign with Williams. After a difficult qualifying session, he recovered well during the race and reached the points zone, battling with Bearman for a better position. However, the young British driver misjudged his braking at the Roggia chicane and clipped the left rear of car number 55, ruining Sainz’s afternoon.
The incident summed up his season so far. The Spaniard has been plagued by mistakes, technical problems and bad luck that leave him near the bottom of the Drivers’ Championship standings. With just 16 points to his name, he currently shares 17th place with rookie Oliver Bearman.
“Both Alex Albon and I had really strong race pace. We were recovering positions and putting the car where it deserved to be in terms of speed. But qualifying cost me a lot,” Sainz explained after the Monza weekend.
One of the key issues for the son of two-time World Rally Champion Carlos Sainz Sr. is his lack of feeling with the FW47. The car does not suit his driving style and he has struggled to get the best out of it throughout the season.
“I think I’ve had a relatively good feeling with the car all year. Relatively good. But it’s not a car that I enjoy driving. It doesn’t match my preferred driving style,” Sainz admitted.
“It has a very specific characteristic that you always need to take into account when you drive it. If you look at my qualifying results and my race pace in this first year, they are solid. The problem is that as a team we are struggling to put everything together and turn performance into results.”
In Monza, the Spaniard’s race was not only affected by the clash with Bearman but also by a power unit issue. A problem with the Mercedes battery pack limited his performance during the race.
“At Monza we also had battery problems throughout the race, something that hadn’t happened on Friday. It’s always little things, accidents, strategy calls, new parts, and even though we’ve had good pace all season, we never seem to catch a break,” Sainz commented.
“Regarding the battery issue, it depended on how close I was to the car in front and the temperatures. I was losing a lot of power, which made it very difficult to fight.”
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