Carlos Sainz explains weird plastic subject in Qatar GP qualifying as stewards punish Williams

Carlos Sainz mirrored on a troublesome qualifying session for the Qatar Grand Prix, which was impacted by plastic caught on his rear tyres throughout Q3.

The plastic stickers transferred from the ground of the storage onto the rear tyres earlier than they flew off after 4 or 5 corners.

“No, I believe we picked up a plastic leaving the pits, the tyres acquired the entire plastic, and I spent 4 or 5 corners making an attempt to do away with the plastic,” the Spanish driver informed Sky Sports activities F1. “After which I believe that plastic broken the bodywork and the group managed to restore it, however simply by placing one other plastic on prime principally.

“So I do not know if we have been downforce down or not, they may let me know now within the debrief how a lot it actually impacted us, however for positive it is not ultimate to start out a Q3 with a difficulty like that. It places you a bit below strain and a bit in chaos in every single place however we managed to recuperate nicely.”

He added: “We hit the 20.2, which was my Q2 lap time, which for me was not a lot in it. Greater than that, I repeated 20.2 a number of instances in the present day and I simply could not get any faster than that. So joyful to do the 20.2, be P7 for tomorrow, clear aspect of the grid and battle for the highest six tomorrow.”

The Williams driver will begin the race on the Losail Worldwide Circuit from seventh on the grid alongside Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso in eighth.

Trying forward to what’s achievable in the course of the race tomorrow, Sainz set his sights on Racing Bulls driver Isack Hadjar as his race begin goal.

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“I believe considered one of my finest probabilities is Isack. We’re very equal on tempo, he was a tenth faster in the present day in quali however on race tempo, I believe we all the time come again a bit, and will probably be very tight with him.

“So in all probability whoever will get to Flip 1 could possibly be forward, however then there’s two pitstops to do. Choosing nicely the timing of the pitstop will likely be essential so let’s have a look at.”

Williams was fined €5000 for releasing the automobile in an unsafe situation. “The Stewards heard from the Atlassian Williams Racing group consultant and reviewed video and group radio video proof,” the Stewards famous.

“The group suggested that it had been utilizing this flooring sticker since mid-season and had not beforehand skilled any issues with it peeling off the ground. Nevertheless finally the group is liable for guaranteeing that the automobile isn’t launched in an unsafe situation and video proof confirmed that the driving force had nice issue in controlling the automobile, thus the Stewards decide that this was an unsafe state of affairs.”

Pictures from Qatar GP – Dash and Qualifying

Carlos Sainz explains weird plastic subject in Qatar GP qualifying as stewards punish Williams