Sainz, the 'party pooper' of Williams: “We don't have two cars in the points”
James Vowles has reflected on what was seen in Monza from Williams' perspective. Once again, the good performance of the car on a favorable circuit was overshadowed by the adverse result of Carlos Sainz.
We have practically completed two-thirds of the season and things are still not going well for Carlos Sainz. The adaptation process and the difficulties with the new car are behind him. Now, the Spanish driver is as capable of performing at a good level as Alexander Albon, whom he matches in qualifying (8-8 in head-to-head).
However, on Sundays, things go wrong time and again, whether due to personal errors, excessive anxiety, or plain bad luck. One thing is certain, regardless of the causes, Carlos Sainz has now gone nine races without points, contributing only 16 of the 86 points that Williams has in the constructors' championship.
“I think of eight tenths separating 20 cars or, in the case of our two cars, 90 milliseconds deciding whether you are in Q3 or if you are 14th”
Williams, a driver's team
As the grands prix go by, and as rival teams have improved their performance —especially Aston Martin and Sauber—, Williams has been losing momentum and no longer has guaranteed the fifth position in the championship.
It will be vital, therefore, that both Alexander Albon and Carlos Sainz score points regularly. But, once again, in Monza, only the former managed to do so. This year, whenever the Spaniard has scored (seven times), Albon has also done so, with the exception of Canada.
Additionally, Albon has scored for the team in 11 of the 16 occasions, 70 points that keep him seventh in the overall drivers' standings ahead of Antonelli, a Mercedes driver.
It is obvious that Carlos Sainz has the speed, experience, and ability to match Alexander Albon's results, but for one reason or another, his season is turning out to be disastrous. And in Monza, we had a new example of this.
Carlos Sainz started the race ahead of Albon, as he has many times this year, but during the race, things went awry. First with a less successful tire strategy than the Thai's. But, above all, with a frustrated overtaking attempt on Oliver Bearman that caused him to spin and lose the opportunity to finish in the points (he finished 11th, less than a second behind Hadjar).
While according to the regulations, the culprit was the Haas driver, the truth is that Sainz may have been naive or even impatient by placing himself in a clearly delicate position during the maneuver.
James Vowles reflects on Monza
All of this prevents James Vowles from making a fully positive assessment of the weekend. After all, Albon's seventh place was not accompanied by a points finish for Sainz.
“Fantastic weekend overall. Alex [Albon] scored six valuable points that will really make a difference against our rivals. You can see how tight this championship is and it will remain so during the eight rounds we have left,” said the Williams director at the outset, summarizing the experience at the Italian circuit.
“There is a but. We don't have two cars in the points”, he added next. “Carlos did brilliantly in terms of qualifying, his pace was there. But we got caught up in an incident and that meant he couldn't score points for the team and also not a ninth place that was very much on the table for him in that circumstance.”
Furthermore, Vowles highlighted an aspect that his drivers have repeatedly pointed out, the team's difficulties in making the tires work in qualifying.
“The second but is that, as a team, we are still not managing to qualify well. We are on the edge of getting the tires to work and Monza had the tightest grid we have had in Formula 1,” assessed the British engineer.
“I think of eight tenths separating 20 cars or, in the case of our two cars, 90 milliseconds deciding whether you are in Q3 or if you are 14th. You have to get every detail right,” he elaborated, highlighting the enormous equality in the championship.
After 16 grands prix, Williams is fifth in the championship with 86 points, 24 more than Aston Martin and 25 more than Racing Bulls. Additionally, Sauber has 55 points and Haas 44, so none of these teams are too far away with eight races still to be contested. It will therefore be vital for Carlos Sainz to put his bad streak behind him once and for all.
