Williams continues rise as Carlos Sainz enjoys strong Imola qualifying: “We must be proud”. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon reflect on a strong qualifying at Imola.

Carlos Sainz, third row at Imola
Williams’ progress is becoming increasingly evident, and the Grove-based team secured another double Q3 appearance at Imola. With yesterday’s results, Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon have now made it to Q3 ten times out of fourteen: no other initially “midfield” team has shown such consistent high-level performance, a sign of the British squad’s good work and a validation of Carlos Sainz’s market choice, at least for 2025.

The Smooth Operator also had the satisfaction of outqualifying his teammate for the fourth time in a row. The Spaniard has grown comfortable with the FW47 at least in qualifying pace: now he just needs to convert this upward trend into solid race results, considering that due to a few unlucky incidents he’s only seven points behind.

Carlos Sainz’s words
Carlos Sainz, a surprise leader in Q2, also had some regrets after taking sixth on the grid at Imola. According to him, an imperfect execution in Q3 was to blame: “It was a really strong qualifying. This is a track where you need a lot of confidence, and I’ve been happy with the car since Friday. The Q2 lap shows that confidence, and I went into Q3 looking to improve again. We were last in line for the final run, trying to get a tow and benefit from track evolution, but unfortunately the strategy didn’t work out and my outlap was heavily compromised — we even risked not making it to the line in time. Still, I’m very happy with the overall picture and we should be proud of the performances we’re putting in as a team. We’re in a good position for the race; I hope we can fight as close to the front as possible and bring home some good points.”

Alex Albon’s words
“Not a bad qualifying, but definitely not perfect — I struggled and didn’t feel fully comfortable with the car,” Alex Albon added. “Honestly, I’m happy to have finished in seventh, but it felt like I couldn’t push too much. It was very easy to overdrive, and I lacked a bit of confidence, but even on a day like yesterday, when I wasn’t feeling at my best with the car, we were still quick. That’s a good sign.”