Italian GPRevealed the Origin of Sainz's Battery Problems and Why Williams Assigned Him the 'Bad' Strategy
Carlos Sainz's Italian Grand Prix was once again plagued by problems. In addition to the accident with Bearman, the Williams driver complained about the battery performance and was hindered by the strategy.
Williams once again missed a great opportunity at the Monza circuit. While Alexander Albon was able to make up for a poor qualifying to finish seventh, Carlos Sainz found himself outside the points again after suffering an accident while trying to overtake Oliver Bearman.
But that wasn't all, as he also complained about the battery performance and had to fight against the odds to compensate for a wrong strategy, which in turn led him to take risks like the overtaking of Bearman.
"Once we took full control of the situation as a team, he was able to overtake Bearman"
Sainz and Albon's Strategy
The truth is that Williams assigned Carlos Sainz the strategy chosen by most drivers: starting with new medium tires and switching to new hard tires to finish the race.
However, the British team chose an alternative for Alexander Albon, who started the race just behind his teammate. The Thai driver began with new hard tires, staying in the pack until his rivals — including Carlos Sainz — stopped to change tires after many overheating issues.
From that moment on, Albon took advantage of the clear track to set a consistent and competitive pace, waiting until lap 41, when he switched to new medium tires with only 12 laps to go. This allowed him to be even faster at the end of the race, finishing in a commendable seventh position, while Sainz had been caught up in the midfield battle.
Vowles Explains
The team principal of Williams, James Vowles, wanted to explain the reason why they decided to combine strategies. The Brit begins by pointing out that these "are based on millions of simulations that try to predict what could happen in the race. The first step is to understand what tires our rivals will start on, and in this case, the model showed us we were right".
"Small details can change the race a lot, like the tire choice of those starting in the top 10: We thought Lewis [Hamilton] would have a difficult start, however, that was not the case and that can affect the race around him," continues the former strategy director of Mercedes.
Vowles also reveals that one of the keys is predicting tire behavior. "We also simulated the start: hard tires start slower, but how do you recover? What happens if the tire goes faster or slower than expected? Analyzing everything together, the simulations show us the best strategy".
Finally, Williams interpreted that the likelihood of a safety car intervening in the early laps was high, so starting both drivers on the same tires would force them both to stop at the same time if confirmed.
"Among the things that could arise was the intervention of a safety car. That's why we started both drivers on different tires, to cover more scenarios," adds Vowles.
"Starting both the same can be an advantage if the car is fast, but risky if the safety car comes in the early laps, where the cars are closer together. That's why we chose to differentiate the strategies as a team game," concludes the Brit.
However, that did not happen, and Carlos Sainz ended up being disadvantaged by the less advantageous choice in those circumstances.
Battery Problems
Additionally, Carlos Sainz complained during the race that the power deployment of his power unit was not optimal. "The battery is a joke", he said over the radio.
In contrast, James Vowles claims that "it really wasn't a big deal". The hardware from Mercedes is excellent, and the software and systems we have developed with them over the years are of excellent quality.
Sainz's boss at Williams attributed his driver's bad feelings to a very different performance of the German engine compared to Ferrari, which the Spaniard used for four seasons.
"Carlos said that because he perceived differences in the deployment [of energy] compared to Ferrari. Monza is one of the circuits where it is most noticeable that we are short on energy — because there are few charging zones and many straights — and the difference between the two deployment strategies becomes more evident," he argues.
"The information Carlos provided us helped us understand how we can improve in this aspect and is useful for the future, to understand what differentiates Ferrari from us," adds Vowles, before referring to Albon.
"But, as you saw with Alex, for example, with the same hardware and software, you can achieve great results. And as you saw with Carlos, once we took full control of the situation as a team, he was able to overtake Bearman," concludes Vowles.
