2025 Williams Racing F1 Team

[Xyz22]

Sainz had used tyres for the first stint. Terrible mistake by the team this weekend.
Also he said he picked up damage with the fight with Albon. Not great

[Otromundo]

I didn't know SAI started on used tires, but this time he lacked a bit of performance. ALB seems more determined. I like ALB as a driver: he's fast yet very fluid. He's almost surgical. I agree he deserves a lucky day and a podium finish.

[Xyz22]

I didn't know SAI started on used tires, but this time he lacked a bit of performance. ALB seems more determined. I like ALB as a driver: he's fast yet very fluid. He's almost surgical. I agree he deserves a lucky day and a podium finish.

He started with the tyres they used in FP. This is a massive deficit in current F1.
They put him on new mediums in the sprint, which didn't make any sense. Colossal mistake that cost Williams a lot of points this weekend.

[AR3-GP]

I heard there was team orders drama? What was that about?

[Raleigh]

Focus on the positives...

Albon beat 1 Mercedes and both Ferrari on pure pace. Probably could have beaten both Mercs since George was behind Kimi until he got the cheap VSC stop (which also put George ahead of Max). Outright quicker than Antonelli, made the pass on track then pulled away on pace and finished 8 seconds behind Max over a full race that had zero interruptions to bunch up the pack.

McLaren in a world of their own, but then Williams only slightly behind Red Bull with arguably better pace than Mercedes, definitely better than Ferrari.

And Carlos had a slightly rougher race but had the pace to fight with the Ferrari at minimum.

[AR3-GP]

Sainz had floor damage from lap 1. Williams probably could have finished 4th and 5th today without the VSC and the damage on the car of Carlos.

[ScuderiaLeo]

Sainz had floor damage from lap 1. Williams probably could have finished 4th and 5th today without the VSC and the damage on the car of Carlos.

With better VSC luck and pit timing they might've even been able to fight for a podium. Russell was not that much quicker than Albon and probably Sainz too if he didn't have damage.

I would've loved to see Albon and Russell duel, Albon is great at overtaking but Russell has showed some good defending this season.

[AR3-GP]

It was not the smoothest of starts for the Williams pair as Sainz and Albon made contact on lap 1. On the dynamics with his teammate Sainz had this to say: " picked up damage at the start with Alex, then he made a mistake, I managed to pass him. Then the team told us that we were going to freeze positions," the Spaniard said to media including GPblog after the race.
"I don't know if he got the message or not but basically he overtook me back. From there onwards on that first sting I just tried to do everything to stay in contact with that group, holding up Charles behind with a used tyre and damaged car."

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz-in ... everything

This doesn't make sense to me at all. If Carlos had damage to his car, why would they freeze the positions when Albon could go faster?

[avantman]

It was not the smoothest of starts for the Williams pair as Sainz and Albon made contact on lap 1. On the dynamics with his teammate Sainz had this to say: " picked up damage at the start with Alex, then he made a mistake, I managed to pass him. Then the team told us that we were going to freeze positions," the Spaniard said to media including GPblog after the race.
"I don't know if he got the message or not but basically he overtook me back. From there onwards on that first sting I just tried to do everything to stay in contact with that group, holding up Charles behind with a used tyre and damaged car."

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz-in ... everything

This doesn't make sense to me at all. If Carlos had damage to his car, why would they freeze the positions when Albon could go faster?

That could only make sense if Carlos was promised number one status by Vowles, who was chasing him so desperately. Otherwise it doesn't make any sense indeed, basically settling for less having the car and pace for more.

[Xyz22]

It was not the smoothest of starts for the Williams pair as Sainz and Albon made contact on lap 1. On the dynamics with his teammate Sainz had this to say: " picked up damage at the start with Alex, then he made a mistake, I managed to pass him. Then the team told us that we were going to freeze positions," the Spaniard said to media including GPblog after the race.
"I don't know if he got the message or not but basically he overtook me back. From there onwards on that first sting I just tried to do everything to stay in contact with that group, holding up Charles behind with a used tyre and damaged car."

https://www.gpblog.com/en/news/sainz-in ... everything

This doesn't make sense to me at all. If Carlos had damage to his car, why would they freeze the positions when Albon could go faster?

Protect his position. But yeah considering Albon could go faster they could have asked Albon to overtake and then help Carlos by keeping him inside DRS window.

In any event more than the damage it was the used tyres (4 push laps) that slowed Sainz massively in the first stint. This was a colossal handicap.