Carlos Sainz was certainly frustrated after another miss in F1 Imola GP, as he feels they need to get the communication better to avoid losing points.
Having qualified well, Williams’ Sainz was hoping for a good result in F1 Imola GP. He steadied at the start and kept with the top half until an early stop which eventually ruined his race. The Spaniard was not too pleased with the call as he relayed on the radio as well.
His run was further complicated by Virtual Safety Car and Safety Car which allowed both the Ferrari cars through. He was frustrated finishing eighth especially seeing teammate Alexander Albon end up fifth. He noted that they did not decide about pitting early, where the change of plans was not notified too.
He was close to disobeying the order to pit but went with it considering he is a team player. “Obviously not, no, I think we cannot be happy with P8, even though at one stage of my race I was P15 and I didn’t even think we were going to get points,” said Sainz to media. “But I did a good comeback from there, we just didn’t execute that good Sunday yet again. Second time in a row.
“I think that we let go away a lot of points on Sunday after being in a very strong position after the first few laps, attacking and being quicker than the Astron and the Mercedes in front. I don’t know if we overreacted to Leclerc pitting or something, but we clearly boxed really, really early on my side of the garage. From then on, we were on an offset strategy that clearly wasn’t working and wasn’t going in our way.
“So, frustrated as it is not the first time and it is costing us lot of points on Sundays but at the same time, I’ve always told the team this is the year to make these mistakes, to try and learn from them. At the same time, we need to make a step because we’re starting to give away too many points for my liking. If I’m very honest with you, pitting so early was never in the plan.
“There was no warning from no one to say we were going to box. So, when the box call came, I was very close to not boxing and disobeying. At the same time, I’m a team player and obviously a team has more info than what I have. So, I followed the order just in case there was something happening that I couldn’t see. It is true everyone was digging at that time, but normally a tyre always goes through a phase where they feel really poor and then they recover.
“And we know how penalising is giving track position around this circuit which is what we gave up at that stage with Leclerc and all the one-stoppers, basically the rest of the field. It came by surprise definitely, clearly, we need to improve the way we communicate, the way we understand each other on Sundays because it’s always been a strength of mine that I need to build with the team.
“Clearly, with this team it’s yet to be built and ingrained to make sure we execute Sundays a bit better because with the speed that I had this weekend on Saturday, the speed that I had today in the race and came out of the weekend with only a P8 when you see Alex again in the top five with a normal plan, it’s very frustrating.
“Also, because it comes in a consecutive manner, so when it comes in a consecutive manner it’s very frustrating. But we’ll learn from it. I have always told the team that this is the year to do mistake this time to make a step,” summed up Sainz, who has stressed about better communication to eliminate such mistakes if they end up fighting for wins and even championships in future.
In some ways, he thinks it is good that such mistakes are happening now, because it helps to learn for the better. In terms of the car, he feels that Williams is good enough to challenge the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari at certain tracks which will suit to its strengths
“Williams is not fighting for the championship but I believe Williams has potential for race wins and championships in the future,” continued Sainz. “It’s a very young team, a very young project, and we found Sunday in a very good position this year to be fighting world championship teams, which is Mercedes-Ferrari. We were quicker than them in Miami, we were quicker than them in Imola.
“We didn’t beat them in Miami, on my side, we didn’t beat them today, so we need to learn how to beat them because I was quicker all weekend than them. As I said, better to learn this year just in case we have a quick car next year. At the same time, we need to see progress this year and there’s already a lot of points that we’re giving up on my side on Sundays that for some reason on Alex’s side he’s doing really good on executing them.
“The car that we have is good enough to be on par with Mercedes-Ferrari at some circuits like we saw in Miami and here. It’s not good enough for other circuits like Barcelona. You will see we will not be on the fight. Who knows in Monaco? We will see. But what we need to get better at is executing on the weekends.
“When we have a competitive car like in Miami or Imola make sure we get the top fives and the top fours that potentially we could have got today. I’m confident on that side given my experience also in that area I’m going to improve the team the same way that I’m improving the team in other areas but we need to make progress,” summed up Sainz.
Here’s Charles Leclerc, Alexander Albon on Imola GP clash
Here’s how F1 Imola GP panned out
