Carlos Sainz experienced a weekend of mixed emotions in Singapore. The Williams driver was disqualified on Saturday because the rear wing of his FW47 did not comply with the regulations. However, he impressed the following day with a strong comeback race: from P18 to P10, earning him one World Championship point.
“I actually quite enjoyed today,” Sainz said afterwards. “I overtook a lot of cars, was the fastest man on the track at the end, and we still managed to score a point after that difficult Saturday. So I’m happy about that.” However, the Spaniard was critical of his own performance and that of the team. “We made too many mistakes this weekend,” Sainz admitted. “I didn’t do well in qualifying and we changed the setup too much between VT3 and qualifying. As a result, I lost my way a bit. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because we were disqualified anyway. But apart from that: as a team, we still make too many mistakes. On a normal, calm weekend, we could have taken P7 or P8.”
Battle for Fifth Place
Despite the disqualification on Saturday, Sainz managed to limit the damage on Sunday. As direct competitors scored few points, the loss was kept to a minimum. “We need to keep improving as a team. Fortunately, we got everything out of the race today. I think we were the only ones in the midfield who really gained positions. From P18 to P10 is just strong. Especially on a day when there were few changes in the field, we can be satisfied with what we got out of it.”
Williams is currently fifth in the constructors’ championship with 102 points, and a lead of 30 points over Racing Bulls in sixth place. Aston Martin is close behind Racing Bulls, so the battle for fifth place is far from decided. With six race weekends to go, anything can still happen in the midfield.
