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Carlos Sainz believes that Williams has a stronger race pace than qualifying pace after securing ninth on the grid for the 2025 United States Grand Prix. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, the Spanish driver explained that changing wind conditions made the qualifying session particularly challenging.
After qualifying in the top ten for the sprint shootout and claiming a podium in the sprint race earlier in the day, Sainz enjoyed a clean build-up to the race weekend. He outqualified his teammate Alex Albon for the third consecutive race. However, in qualifying for the main race, the former Ferrari driver was unable to post a lap quicker than ninth fastest.
Carlos Sainz noted that although his lap was clean, shifting wind direction made it difficult to maximize performance. He added that this season’s trend has shown the FW47 tends to perform better over a race distance than in a single lap. According to him, ninth at the Circuit of the Americas represents a fair reflection of Williams’ qualifying potential. He admitted he was unsure where lap time was lost compared to rivals and felt the sprint qualifying and result did not accurately reflect their true pace. Sainz also highlighted that the car struggled with wind sensitivity and lacked a competitive edge against its direct competitors at this circuit.
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Asked by Sportskeeda if there was a particular section or characteristic of the track that suited their car compared to their competitors, Carlos Sainz said:
“Nowhere really. We are P9, which is the average of the season. So it's not like we've been particularly quick here or anything. It's just we had a very solid lap yesterday on the sprint that put us in a good track position to then do something at the start and we finished P3. But I think what is important is that our race pace is always better than our quali pace. Again, I expect tomorrow hopefully to pick up a bit of pace in the race.”
Asked if he was happy with his qualifying result for the main race, Carlos Sainz said:
“Yeah, I think we had a really solid day today with a very strong sprint quali and sorry sprint and a very good quali, honestly. There's not much in it in that lap. Obviously, then you see half a tenth to the top seven, top six, and you wonder where that half a tenth might be. But honestly, my lap was really clean and it just felt like, from Q1 onwards, we were struggling to improve because the wind picked up and our car, like always when the wind picks up, it's very tricky.”
Carlos Sainz believes that the first sector of Circuit of the Americas suits their car the best
Carlos Sainz believes that sector one of the Circuit of the Americas best suits the Williams package. However, he acknowledged that mid-corner speeds and long, low-speed corners continue to expose the car’s weaknesses. While Sainz admitted that there are more weaknesses than strengths at this circuit, he also pointed out that the bumpy nature of the track plays to Williams’ advantage, attributed primarily to its superior ride quality at such tracks.
Asked by Sportskeeda what his understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their car was after a sprint race worth of mileage, Carlos Sainz said:
“No, I think we are relatively strong in sector one. We have a very good ride, which has been a trend all year and when it's bumpy like this we have a good ride. And then everything else really, we have our weaknesses in mid-corner, all the low-speed, the long corners, here there's plenty, so a bit of everything.”
Carlos Sainz has been enjoying his strongest run of the season since his podium finish in Baku. Although that result came amid multiple incidents during the race, it provided a timely boost of confidence that he has carried into Singapore and now Austin.
In the United States, the 30-year-old has shown a stronger form than his teammate Alex Albon, who was eliminated in Q1 after his lap time was deleted for exceeding track limits. As it stands, the Spaniard is aiming to recover from ninth position in Sunday’s race.
