Sainz slams ‘worst execution ever’ in Brazil Sprint Qualifying fiasco

Carlos Sainz was left fuming after a disastrous Sprint Qualifying session at Interlagos saw him finish dead last, labelling the effort from himself and his Williams team “the worst execution I have seen in my life.”

The Spaniard, who had shown promising pace in Friday’s practice despite battling illness, endured a messy and confusing SQ1 that ended before he could even set a representative lap time.

“Yeah, we just simply didn't do a good quali,” Sainz admitted afterward, visibly frustrated. “I mean, first run was quite messy with traffic and problem with getting the tyres up to temperature.

“But then the second run, we managed to make our life even more difficult and we almost didn't put two laps in. So, yeah, in general, just I go out of this quali without knowing what was the limit or the performance of the car because we didn't even do two laps.”

For a driver known for his methodical approach and consistency, the chaos was particularly painful. The team’s timing and tyre preparation appeared off from the start, leaving Sainz stranded at the bottom of the timesheets and voicing his anger over the radio with the now-viral remark: “This is the worst execution I have seen in my life.”

Despite missing Thursday’s media day with illness, Sainz was quick to clarify that health wasn’t the problem – the strategy was.

“Physically, obviously, not 100%, but pace in FP1 shows that I could have done a fast lap today if needed,” he explained. “But we managed to put ourselves in a position to never complete a fast lap. So it's impossible to know what we could have done.”

Albon Finds Positives Despite Struggles

While Sainz’s session collapsed in frustration, his teammate Alex Albon fared slightly better, qualifying 12th for Saturday’s Sprint. The Thai-British driver admitted Williams were fighting an uphill battle at the twisty, high-downforce Interlagos circuit.

“I think we knew we were going to struggle a bit at this circuit,” Albon said. “There's a lot of lap time just in getting the balance of the car right, but I don't know if it's totally achievable.

“I don't know if it's a little bit more fundamental in the car, however we'll try and fix it between the Sprint and qualifying tomorrow. It was tricky but I don't think we're in a bad place.

“The positives are that we improved the car a lot from practice to Sprint qualifying, and we're heading in the right direction.”
Saturday’s Sprint could throw even more unpredictability into the mix, with rain showers expected in the morning and thunderstorms forecast later in the day.

Gusty winds up to 25 mph could add another layer of drama – something Sainz will be hoping to use to his advantage as he looks to climb from the back of the grid and turn frustration into redemption.

São Paulo Grand Prix - Sprint Qualifying results

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