Sainz explains reason behind Q1 exit for F1 Austrian GP

Williams Formula 1 driver Carlos Sainz has confirmed he had damage to his FW47, leading to an early qualifying exit.

It means the Spanish driver will start the Austrian Grand Prix in 19th on Sunday and at the end of Q1, Sainz claimed via team radio that the car was “undriveable”.

“There’s damage in the car, for sure,” he explained to the Grove-based outfit. “The car is undriveable. When I say undriveable, it’s pulling under braking, no load in high speed. Undriveable.”

As the Williams driver made his way from the car to the media session in the paddock, the team confirmed to him that he had in fact picked up some damage to the floor. 

“Yeah, we must have picked up damage on the floor, which they just confirmed to me that we did,” Sainz explained.

“I don’t know exactly where, because it’s not like I went off the track, but something must have fallen off and we lost a lot of downforce.

“But on top of that, we had a brake issue from the beginning of quali, pulling massively and the braking to one side. With the three big braking zones here, I was always going to struggle with that.”

Confirming that he felt issues with the brakes from the beginning of qualifying, Sainz added: “Yeah, with the brakes, yes. With the floor, it was not clear at the beginning, but then the last couple of laps, there was for sure something, as you could see on the onboard.”

“We changed the brakes from FP3 to quali, like we always do,” he continued. “And we put what we think is a new set, but something must have not been correct, given the amount of pulling that I had to one side every time I hit the brakes.

“So, yes, we need to investigate what. The floor, I think, must have happened during quali at some point. Must have something fallen off or dropped something.”

Sainz’s team-mate Alex Albon progressed into Q2, which only added salt to the wound. The 30-year-old felt that Q2 was possible but Q3 would have been a tall order.

“Given where Alex was and we’d been on par all weekend, I think Q2 was definitely possible,” he added.

“Q3 was more of an ask, given our soft tyre struggles. But Q2 should have been easy, top end of Q2. Since yesterday, we’ve seen we have the race pace of the midfield, but for some reason, in our soft tyres, we always struggle.”

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

When asked if a pit lane start was the best option for him on Sunday, Sainz concluded: “We’ll see. I am not here to test. I am not here to be P19 for sure, so we need to start investigating what’s going on.

“But at the same time, you know, this, how do you say, this bad run of races is happening, and we need as a team to push together and see what we can do better as a whole.

“Yeah, especially when it comes to qualifying and the soft tyre, because honestly, my race pace is good. Every time I’m driving under normal circumstances, I’m quick. But yeah, just putting things together.”