Sainz says Q2 was the target at Barcelona as Williams struggles continue

Carlos Sainz described getting into Q2 as the goal for qualifying at his home race in Barcelona on Saturday, after a difficult weekend for Williams at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

Credit: Formula One

The Spaniard scraped through Q1 in P16 — the lowest-placed driver to advance — before being eliminated in Q2, finishing over two seconds off the pace in the second segment. Teammate Alex Albon did not make it out of Q1 at all, ending the session without a Williams car in the top fifteen.

Sainz was direct about the situation after the session. "Today the target was to try and get into Q2," he said. "We did that with one decent lap there at the end of Q1. Even though it doesn't sound very inspiring to say that in my home Grand Prix, we're fighting to get out of Q1 — that's the situation for this weekend."

He acknowledged that despite the limitations of the package, he had delivered on the objective. "At least I maximised whatever was in the car today and we can move on to tomorrow," he added.

Williams had already flagged before qualifying that Barcelona would be one of the harder circuits on the calendar for them this season. The high-speed, technical nature of the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has exposed the car's weaknesses across all three practice sessions, and team principal James Vowles was candid in the paddock before the session.

"We are struggling here, there's no doubt about it," Vowles said. "We did not expect miracles here. Down to us as a team, not done a good enough job. Q3, we would need somewhat of a miracle at this point."

That assessment proved accurate. While the rest of the drivers eliminated in Q2 were separated by under seven tenths of a second, the Williams was over two seconds off the pace — a gap that put Sainz in a different conversation entirely from the rest of the midfield.

Fernando Alonso, the other Spanish driver on the grid, also failed to make it out of Q1, making it a difficult afternoon for the home crowd. Sainz, however, was already looking beyond Saturday by the time he spoke to the media.

"Tomorrow we've seen so many times this year that there is opportunity to score points," he said. "There's a lot happening on Sunday. We're going with a fresh mind and trying to get those points, even though we know that in pure pace it will almost be impossible. We'll see what the others will do and see if we can score some points."

It is not the kind of qualifying night a driver imagines at his home race. But Sainz's focus on Sunday's race suggests he is not dwelling on it either — and in a season where Williams have found points in unexpected places, the race is far from over.