Carlos Sainz reckons Lap 1 contact damaged car in F1 Mexico GP amid pit limiter troubles, as Alexander Albon feels team weren’t dynamic in strategy.
Williams’ Sainz ended up causing two big moments in F1 Mexico GP, neither which helped him. The first happened rightaway on Lap 1 when he cut across at Turn 1 and hit Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson. It not only damaged the Kiwi’s car, but also the Spaniard and left debris on track.
Lawson pitted and exited at a time when marshals were on track in a near-escape. The Kiwi said he left enough space, but doesn’t blame Sainz as such. The hit seemingly damaged the pit limiter of the Spaniard. He was hit with a 5s time penalty for a minor first offence.
But a severe drive-through penalty was handed the second time when he oversped by 9.8 km/her in the pits, which sealed his fate. “A race full of issues, compromised probably by the contact at the start,” said Sainz to media. “I think we were three or four into [Turn] 1 and there was a big melee. We were three or four cars side by side, like always in Mexico, a tricky one.
“I think I damaged my rim, which damaged my first set of tyres, my rim sensor, my speed sensors of the tyre and my pit limiter wasn’t working. From there on, even if we got a five-second penalty at the first pitstop, we were still in the hunt for points. But then we had to do a second pitstop. We had the issue again of the pit limiter and we basically had a very difficult day.
“A shame because I was really quick and even if I had a compromised strategy, compromised tyres, compromised car, we were quick, but too many issues,” summed up Sainz, who eventually had a spin late on to retire while chasing Lance Stroll in the stadium section. He caused a Virtual Safety Car, which needed to be clarified by the FIA after his car caught fire.
“I was just pushing, I had Lance and so I thought I could get P14, had overheating on the tyre and I had a half spin but anyway we were going to retire the car,” said Sainz. His teammate Albon had to give way to him at one point in the grand prix, which confused the Thai at first. He didn’t know that the Spaniard was on two-stop which was faster than his own one-stop.
“I think in my head at the time, I didn’t understand what the team orders were,” said Albon to media. “Because I thought Carlos was in a two [stop], I was in a one. But then, his two was so quick that he was already ahead of me. So, I was like, you know what? Okay, I understand how the tyres are working. I just needed to understand the picture, I didn’t really understand the picture of the race at the time.”
For Albon, it was another low-key event which was marred by strategic choice as per the Thai. He didn’t think it was wrong to start on the hard per se as it was a collective decision, but once it became clear that it wasn’t the right choice, he feels Williams was not dynamic enough to change it around.
He thinks the team stuck to its original plan and weren’t flexible to change when it was evident that two-stop was a faster strategy. “A bit of a slow one more me,” started Albon. “It confirmed that the hard tyre was not good in the whole race and it just affects the whole strategy for us. Once the hard was not working, I think we had chances to be dynamic and convert to a two-stop.
“But I think we were too stuck in our ways, we just committed to just something not working and when you do that, you are in no man’s land. And, I mean, I think the messaging was, we’re looking good, we’re on a one-stop. But there wasn’t a two-stop. So, very painful and just slow. We did. I think it’s a joint decision. I’m not trying to change the strategy under the bus.
“So, I think that when you’re in that position, though, you have a chance to, it’s not, you don’t have to go to Lap 40 or Lap 50 to pit. You can go a bit different, and then that’s it, really. I would say, the pace was OK. To be honest with you, I must admit, we didn’t really have the pace either. So, back to the drawing board for Brazil,” summed up Albon.
Here’s Alexander Albon losing a place: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2025-mexico-city-grand-prix-ocon-muscles-his-way-past-albon-for-p11.1847098036001933843
Here’s OMDAI on Liam Lawson scene
Here’s Liam Lawson on Carlos Sainz contact
