Carlos Sainz has described his qualifying at the Chinese GP as frustrating, where he ended up in seventeenth position. The Spanish Williams driver explained that, despite feeling fast and doing good laps, the current performance of the single-seater is not enough even to fight for advancing to Q2. Sainz is trying to cling to the positive aspects, like his good feeling with the car.
Lack of aerodynamic load hampers potential in a single lap 😫
The main technical hurdle mentioned by Sainz is the lack of efficient aerodynamic load with new tire conditions. The FW46 seems to struggle to generate the necessary downforce in medium and high-speed corners, a key aspect in Shanghai. This prevents the driver from exploiting the maximum of the soft compound in a single lap, losing crucial time against rivals like Haas or Racing Bulls, whose cars are kinder to the tires on pit exit.
China Objective: dream of points from row 17 😅
With such a starting position, Sainz's aspirations for the race are a pure exercise in realism. Aiming for a position in the top fifteen sounds almost like undue ambition, but in the F1 circus even that is an achievement. We'll have to trust in a textbook strategy, a couple of strategic yellow flags, and that the rivals decide to have a picnic in the stands. At least, with that good feeling he mentions, he'll be comfortable while watching the points being distributed very, very far away.