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CARLOS SAINZ REVEALS THREE-MONTH EXPERIMENT FUELLED STRONG WILLIAMS QATAR QUALIFYING
Carlos Sainz credits a long-term setup experiment for his P7 qualifying in Qatar. The Williams driver pushed the FW47's limits after learning from a poor Budapest race.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz shared that an experiment that took three months to pay off helped him perform well in the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying.
In his first season racing with Williams, Sainz has shown his skill a few times. But the team based in Grove had some problems with its FW47 after the race in Hungary earlier this year.
After Sainz’s “very solid” qualifying performance, the team said they had been experimenting before the race at the Losail International Circuit.
Sainz gave credit to his team, who tried hard to turn flashes of brilliance into steady speed, which let Sainz and Albon compete with their main rivals.
“Yes, we took another step forward in qualifying, and it seemed to move things in a good way,” Sainz told Sky Sports F1.
“Overall, I'm just happy with how the weekend is going so far. We've been steady, got a point in the sprint, and now we're in a better spot for qualifying, in the top seven going into the race.”
Sainz’s good result was another success with Williams. The qualifying performance was based on Sainz’s ability to push as hard as he could.
After qualifying, Sainz thought he had reached the FW47's limit, with a few laps that showed how confident he was with the new setup they were testing.
“I did three good laps in qualifying. I hit 20.2 in Q2, and I felt like I just couldn’t go any faster than that. It felt like that was the most the car could do,” Sainz told the media, including Motorsport Week.
“In Q3, even with the plastic scare and some damage to the car that had to be fixed, I don’t know if I had damage still. But after that issue, I still managed to hit 20.2 and get P7, so I’ll take it. We’re in a good spot.”
What was the Sainz-Williams Qatar experiment?
The 31-year-old said after qualifying that the idea for his Qatar setup came months earlier. After a tough time in Budapest, Sainz insisted that the team could improve. Sainz told his team that the “off-weekend” should be a chance to learn instead of just trying to get better quickly.
“Yes, I’ve been pushing since Budapest,” Sainz said.
“We had a bad weekend at this kind of track corner, so I said, let’s use this year to learn and try something in Qatar, because we expected to struggle in Qatar. It should be a tough weekend for us.”
Instead of avoiding a track that was known for showing weaknesses, Sainz accepted the challenge. Sainz brought his ideas from simulator testing, and the team added other ideas.
“So let’s put a plan together and test it,” he said.
“I had some ideas in the simulator that I wanted to try. The team had other ideas, so we put them all together, went to the simulator, tested the car, and that gave us what we thought could be a good starting point for the weekend to give it a shot.”
From Friday’s practice session, the progress was obvious. Sainz said that the new experiment not only gave them a good qualifying performance but also helped them learn more about the FW47.
“And it was working well right away this weekend, which has given us a good sense of what’s going on, good learning, and confidence. The team needs to do these kinds of tests and see them work.”
THE 2026 ULTIMATUM: WHY NEXT SEASON IS "MAKE OR BREAK" FOR LEWIS HAMILTON
After a winless 2025 debut, Lewis Hamilton faces a pivotal year. See why Steiner believes the 7x champ is nearing the F1 exit.
Guenther Steiner, who used to run the Haas team, thinks Lewis Hamilton might quit Formula 1 if Ferrari can't get to the top of the Driver's Championship by 2026—he thinks that season will be super important for the racing star.
Hamilton had a tough first year with Ferrari, ending up sixth in the F1 rankings with 156 points.
That was 86 points behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and he didn't even get on the podium once, which is a first for him in a full season.
He often said he was bummed out about how his Ferrari debut was going.
Back in November, after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, he told Sky Sports, I feel awful. This has been the worst season ever, and it just keeps getting worse no matter how hard I try. I'm trying everything I can, both in and out of the car.
Hamilton looked pretty sad a lot during the season because he couldn't really fight for race wins.
Steiner told Sports Krone, I think if Ferrari has a good car next season, Hamilton might be able to turn things around. If they are more competitive, Lewis might find his drive again. But if things stay the same, next season will probably be his last in Formula 1. He's not going to go through that again. The situation is tough for him, and you could see that in every interview. So, the next season will be key for him.
What's Hamilton saying about quitting?
When the media asks Hamilton about his F1 future, he doesn't want to talk about retiring.
At the end of the season, when someone asked him what he would say to those who think he might retire soon, the 40-year-old said, I wouldn't say anything to them. None of them have done what I've done, so they don't know anything more than I do.
Last summer, after some rumors that he might leave early, Hamilton said he's staying at Ferrari until his contract is up.
He said, For those writing stories about me thinking about not racing, I've just started here with Ferrari. I've been here for a few years, and I'm in it for the long run, so there's no question about what I'm focused on achieving with this team. There are zero doubts, so please stop making stuff up.
In 2026, everyone will still be wondering about Hamilton's future in F1, mainly if Ferrari keeps struggling with the new rules. And if Steiner is right, another year of not competing for a championship could be the end for him.
MAX VERSTAPPEN NAMED PEER-VOTED DRIVER OF THE YEAR FOR FIFTH CONSECUTIVE SEASON
Max Verstappen wins his 5th straight F1 peer award, beating champion Lando Norris. Lewis Hamilton drops out of the top 10 for the first time.
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Max Verstappen copped his fifth straight driver-of-the-year award in Formula 1's secret peer vote, even though he almost grabbed a fifth title in 2025 but didn't quite make it.
The drivers all voted in secret, except for four guys. The Red Bull driver beat out Lando Norris, who just won the world championship, for the number one spot.
The voting worked like the normal F1 points system. Drivers ranked their top 10 rivals. Verstappen got 25 points from six votes to win.
Norris, who won his first championship after a crazy season, came in second in the driver rankings for the second year running.
The McLaren driver won the title after fighting off pressure from Verstappen and his teammate, Oscar Piastri, all season long.
George Russell took third, moving up one spot from last year. The Mercedes driver had a killer season with two wins and seven more podiums.
Piastri was fourth, up one spot, even though his championship hopes fizzled out near the end. The Aussie was leading by 34 points at one point before his performance dropped off.
Charles Leclerc finished fifth, down two spots, even though he got everything he could out of Ferrari's SF-25. The Monegasque driver had seven podiums during a tough season that saw Ferrari finish fourth.
Carlos Sainz held onto sixth after a great comeback at Williams. After a rough start, the Spaniard grabbed two podiums in a strong second half of the season.
Fernando Alonso jumped two spots to seventh, and the two-time world champion had some crazy drives in Aston Martin's AMR25.
Alex Albon took eighth after his best season with Williams, while rookies Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar rounded out the top 10, getting props for their awesome first seasons.
Pierre Gasly almost made the list, even with 10 Q3 appearances in Alpine's tricky A525.
Lewis Hamilton, who's won seven world championships, didn't show up in the rankings, which is a first since they started doing this poll. It shows how rough his first season at Ferrari was.
The four drivers who skipped the vote were Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll, and Yuki Tsunoda.
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