Carlos Sainz, racing for Williams in Formula 1, experienced significant car damage that ended his qualifying session early during the Austrian Grand Prix weekend. The Spanish driver‘s FW47 suffered issues that made it undriveable, causing him to finish Q1 in 19th position and miss out on the higher starting grid spots.

At the end of the first qualifying segment, Sainz reported over the team radio that his car was suffering from severe issues, leaving him unable to control it properly.

Details of the Damage to Sainz’s FW47 and Alleged Floor Issues

Sainz confirmed that the damage was a definite factor in his performance. Speaking to his team and the media, he revealed that the car was pulling heavily under braking, with no downforce on high-speed sections. This made the car impossible to drive effectively.

There’s damage in the car, for sure,

he told the Grove-based Williams team.

As he headed to speak with the media after qualifying, the team informed Sainz that he had likely picked up damage to the floor of his car, which is crucial for aerodynamic grip.

Yeah, we must have picked up damage on the floor, which they just confirmed to me that we did,

Sainz explained during post-qualifying interviews.

He admitted uncertainty about the cause since he had not gone off track but believed that some component might have fallen off, leading to a significant loss of downforce.

Brake Issues Added to the Undriveable Condition

On top of the floor damage, Sainz suffered brake problems that affected his ability to perform in qualifying. He described the brakes pulling severely to one side during every deceleration point, making it even more difficult to handle the car in one of the most braking-heavy circuits.

But on top of that, we had a brake issue from the beginning of quali, pulling massively and the braking to one side. With the three big braking zones here, I was always going to struggle with that.

Sainz confirmed the brake problems were present since qualifying began and pointed out that while the floor damage wasn’t immediately clear, it became notable in his last few laps, as seen in his onboard footage.

Yeah, with the brakes, yes. With the floor, it was not clear at the beginning, but then the last couple of laps, there was for sure something, as you could see on the onboard.

He explained that the team switched to a new set of brakes between FP3 and qualifying, but something appeared to be wrong with the setup or hardware, causing the brake imbalance.

We changed the brakes from FP3 to quali, like we always do,

Sainz added.

We put what we think is a new set, but something must have not been correct, given the amount of pulling that I had to one side every time I hit the brakes.

He and his engineers intend to investigate both the floor damage and braking issues further to understand the exact causes.

So, yes, we need to investigate what. The floor, I think, must have happened during quali at some point. Must have something fallen off or dropped something.

Comparison with Teammate and Reflections on Qualifying Potential

While Sainz struggled, his Williams teammate Alex Albon successfully advanced into Q2, highlighting the gap that damage and mechanical issues created. Sainz noted that reaching Q2 was definitely achievable given their comparable pace throughout the weekend, although Q3 would have been difficult due to their ongoing trouble with soft tyres.

Given where Alex was and we’d been on par all weekend, I think Q2 was definitely possible. Q3 was more of an ask, given our soft tyre struggles. But Q2 should have been easy, top end of Q2. Since yesterday, we’ve seen we have the race pace of the midfield, but for some reason, in our soft tyres, we always struggle.

Sainz Looks Ahead, Determined to Improve for Race Day

Facing a disappointing starting position, Sainz expressed reluctance to accept 19th place for tomorrow’s race and declared the need for a team-wide effort to resolve ongoing performance issues. He emphasized that his race pace is strong when car conditions are normal, but this run of bad luck and technical difficulties has hampered results.

We’ll see. I am not here to test. I am not here to be P19 for sure, so we need to start investigating what’s going on.

But at the same time, you know, this, how do you say, this bad run of races is happening, and we need as a team to push together and see what we can do better as a whole.

Yeah, especially when it comes to qualifying and the soft tyre, because honestly, my race pace is good. Every time I’m driving under normal circumstances, I’m quick. But yeah, just putting things together.

Sainz remains hopeful that his team can address the problems with the car, including the undriveable car damage and brake faults, to improve their competitiveness for the race at the Austrian GP and beyond.