Carlos Sainz’s stance on Singapore DSQ after mistake-filled quali

Carlos Sainz says there are no “hard feelings” towards Williams after both he and Alex Albon were disqualified from qualifying at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was forced to start the race from the back of the grid, lining up in 18th place, and brought his FW47 across the line in 10th place to score the final point in the race.

Carlos Sainz’s DRS gap ‘exceeded the maximum limit of 85mm’

Albon and Sainz had initially qualified 12th and 13th respectively around the Marina Bay circuit, but the teammates disqualified after their rear wings failed a post-qualifying inspection.

The stewards’ ruling read: “During post-qualifying scrutineering, the rear wing of the car was found to be noncompliant with the Technical Regulations.

“The uppermost rear wing element adjustable positions were checked. The DRS in the state of deployment exceeded the maximum limit of 85 mm on both sides of the rear wing outer area.

“At the hearing, the Competitor admitted that, although their own measurement prior to the qualifying had shown the component to be within tolerance, the measurement subsequently conducted by the appointed FIA Officials revealed a larger gap than permitted and therefore the rear wing did not conform with the required dimension.”

Both cars were disqualified from qualifying, but were given dispensation to race.

Sainz lined up in 18th place, elevated up the order as Williams later broke parc ferme conditions on Albon’s car, which meant he had to start from the pit lane, while Alpine did the same with Pierre Gasly.

Sainz, who was one of the last to pit having run a 50-lap opening, brought his FW47 home in 10th place.

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In what has been a trying first season for the Spaniard at Williams, Sainz brushed aside the DSQ as just another lesson that Williams would learn from.

“It’s definitely not hard feelings between any of us,” he told the media in Singapore after Sunday’s grand prix. “I think the team acknowledges we’re still making mistakes in these kind of things which can happen.

“We are in a building year of trying to become a better team and definitely yesterday [quali] we all did mistakes. I did mistakes in my quali lap that cost us a Q3.

“The team did a mistake with the legality of the rear wing on both cars. A mistake with Alex [Albon] in FP1 with the brakes.

“You know we’re still making mistakes, all of us, as long as we don’t repeat mistakes and we keep learning. That’s I think the key for us.”

However, one issue continues to irk the four-time Grand Prix winner – Williams’ qualifying.

According to the Spaniard, qualifying is a “weakness of the car” that’s not helped by tyre preparation issues, with Sainz urging Williams to find a solution.

“I think an ideal weekend would have been a P7 or P8, realistically speaking.” he said.

“In the race we had a lot of pace. Again maybe a bit like in Baku we could have been mixing it up with [Kimi] Antonelli, maybe possibly if we would have started next to him.

“But the reality is that we have a weakness in qualifying that we are trying to address. We keep criticising the tyre preparation.

“My feeling after a few races, and the more I understand the car, is that it’s a weakness of the car, also not a weakness of switching on and off the tyre.

“And probably that weakness in quali is what makes us also very strong in the race and makes us do 50 laps on a medium. So you cannot have it all.

“We just need to reverse engineer a bit the car and see how we can put ourselves in a better position for Sundays.”

Williams is fifth in the Constructors’ Championship on 102 points, 30 ahead of Racing Bulls.

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