Sainz eager to improve communication during races

Having set the benchmark time in the middle part of qualifying on Saturday, Carlos Sainz displayed strong race pace at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, albeit the safety car interruption worked against his strategy.

Having displayed strong pace in qualifying, Williams split their strategies in the 63-lap Imola race. Carlos Sainz pitted early while his team-mate Alexander Albon stayed out to extend his opening stint.

When the virtual safety car was deployed, Albon took a cheap pit stop, and rejoined the track in third place. However, he was unable to keep Oscar Piastri at bay. In the dying stages of the race, the Thai driver was involved in a fierce battle with Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, who ran on much older hards.

With only a few laps to go, Albon was forced wide into the gravel which lost him a place to Lewis Hamilton behind. Leclerc eventually let Albon through, but that was only for fifth when he had been fighting for P4 on Sunday.

His team-mate Sainz topped the middle part of qualifying which meant that he started the race with high hopes. The Spaniard pitted relatively early, which meant that his strategy was hindered by both the virtual safety car and the standard safety car.

The Madrid-born race eventually fought his was back up through the field to end the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in P8.

"Obviously I’m disappointed right now after another weekend where we had good pace and I felt really good all weekend, but for one reason or the other, we don’t seem to catch a break on Sundays.

"It hurts to miss a top five finish on a day that we were quicker than Mercedes and Ferrari. In hindsight, stopping early and then the VSC compromised our result.

"We need to keep making steps forward on communicating better during the race and I know better days will come, I have no doubt about it. We keep pushing team! On to Monaco!"