Carlos Sainz at his prime Grand Prix disputed in Australia with the Williams He did not shine with his performance on the track, retiring a few laps into the race. However, he was his intervention was crucial in bringing back Albon at the right time to mount the intermediates, leading him to obtain the Inline place. Wasn't the Madrid driver told that he wasn't a good teammate at Ferrari? What happened at Williams?
Sainz crash at start of Grand Prix
For Carlos this is a weekend to forget with a 10th place in qualifying and a spin at the last corner, After the Safety car deployed for Jack Doohan's accident on the opening lap of the Australian GP. Williams attributed the cause of the accident to the characteristics of the Gearbox mapping while operating in Safety Car mode. In fact, the team principal James Vowels he has declared: “It was a partial acceleration downshift, but there was more torque than Carlos would have expected at that point.”
Albon 5th thanks to Sainz's strategy
It was instead in the pits that Sainz has proven to be a great strategist and team player perfectly analyzing the weather conditions. In fact, it is thanks to his decisive intervention that it was decided to mount the intermediate tires su Albon on lap 44 – ahead of most of the teams. For this reason, the Thai driver found himself back on track ahead of Ferrari and Tsunoda's Racing Bulls, standing at fourth, until the best sorpasso of Kimi Antonelli he made him go down to fifth. An important top 5 at the start of the season which certifies not only the improvements of Williams, but also the certainty of having taken a driver who will be a added value for the whole team.
"I pit stop were hit the spot, as well as the strategy well done”, Vowles told Sky. “A point to underline, in this regard, is that today we were able to count on one more strategist, which was Carlos. His was incredibly helpful in the transition from slicks to intermediates. You saw a number of teams who were unsure what to do. Carlos, however, was adamant: 'With the slicks we won't be able to tackle the last corners'”. And Carlos was right.
Sainz: The right choice for Williams
That is how Carlos despite his terrible, and unfortunate, performance on the track he has shown how he is capable of having a good vision of the race. In fact, formulating winning strategies and joining his pilot experience who was able to read the weather conditions well. He understood that with that pioggia would have been impossible to drive a single-seater with some slick. Something that many engineers, even from other teams, had not considered.
