Sainz: Williams ‘need some help from the others’ to score points
Carlos Sainz jumped three places at the start of the Singapore Grand Prix, only for a battery problem to wipe out his chance of points within the opening laps.
The Williams driver started 13th and was up to tenth early on, but he finished 14th and a lap down. It capped a weekend that began badly, with Sainz classified last in sprint qualifying in a session where an FIA error left some cars without Overtake Mode, and continued with 14th in qualifying after Nico Hulkenberg impeded him on his final Q2 lap.
“Honestly I thought that today we got a good start and took some risks there in that one,” Sainz said. “We had a good chance of getting points, that was a bit the philosophy today. That’s why I took so many risks at the start and I put myself into a top 10.”
The battery fault changed that. “Unfortunately we had some issues with the battery which very quickly we lost a couple of positions to the Haas,” he explained. Oliver Bearman and Esteban Ocon went on to finish 12th and 13th.
Sainz’s hopes of getting those places back faded as George Russell, who started 19th, and Isack Hadjar, who started from the pit lane, worked their way through the field. “As soon as Russell and Hadjar started coming through the field the points opportunity were gone,” Sainz said. “We simply didn’t have enough pace but yeah, a shame because I really thought today that with a good start maybe the points were possible.”
Singapore was the last race of a triple header that began with Williams’ strongest qualifying result of 2026. The team brought a lighter FW48 with an updated aerodynamic package to Baku, where Sainz qualified ninth for Williams’ first Q3 of the season and finished tenth after recovering from a five-place grid penalty.
At the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sepang eight days later he climbed from 13th to sixth on the opening lap in the wet-dry chaos but ended up 17th, while team-mate Alex Albon retired.
Sainz still considers the three weekends a strong run for himself. “On a personal side I’ve had a very strong triple header, three very strong qualifyings, very strong driving in Baku, Malaysia and here in the races but unfortunately, yeah, the situation is that as soon as there is a bit of downforce sensitivity tracks we don’t have the pace to score points as we expected.”
Williams are ninth in the constructors’ standings on 12 points, ahead of only Aston Martin and Cadillac. Sainz said the lighter car had at least helped them reach Q2 more often.
“Definitely getting the car to the weight limit since Baku has allowed us to get more frequently into Q2s with some very strong laps,” he said. “But as soon as everyone settles down into a race pace we see that we have not the pace really to get points so we need some help from the others.”
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