Sprint China Qualifying, Williams out immediately
The China Sprint Qualifying offers a very clear picture of the teams most in difficulty with the new regulations: in fact, in SQ1 the Cadillacs, Aston Martins and Williams were eliminated. As of today, they are the last three forces on the grid; and if it was predictable for Cadillac, the British crisis represents a huge surprise.
While Aston Martin is clearly aware of why it is at the back of the grid – the power unit – Williams has more general difficulties. The Grove team started late compared to the competition (they didn’t show up at the shakedown of Montmeló) and will therefore use the Shanghai circuit as a test.
Sainz’s words
“This weekend would have been difficult for us anyway, as this circuit highlights the weak points of our car“, Carlos admitted Sainz17th on the grid ahead of his teammate. “Missing half of FP didn’t help, because I couldn’t prepare properly for Sprint Qualifying and had to adapt every lap. At present, we need a smooth weekend before aiming for better results. I will use this weekend to test different configurations and try to make up for the time lost on the track so far. The goal is to maximize our performance and continue to gain knowledge to help the team“.
Albon’s words
“It was a confusing day and clearly this is not the result we wanted to achieve in Sprint qualifying“, added Alex Albon. “We currently have several limitations that we are trying to understand, so we need to go back to the drawing board and get a clearer picture ahead of tomorrow. As always, we will give our all in front of the Chinese fans for tomorrow’s Sprint race and qualifying sessions“.
