Qatar GP: Mixed qualifying for Williams Racing

Carlos Sainz:
"Another good session and happy with P7. We took another step in the right direction and I think I extracted the maximum out of the car today. In Q3, the sticker on the floor of the garage stuck to my wheel and caused damage to the bodywork as it unravelled, but despite this I still managed to do a solid lap on the last attempt and secure a good starting position for tomorrow.

We expect a good battle in the midfield and with two mandatory pit stops we are up for some interesting strategies. I’m confident we can execute a good race and hopefully bring more points for the team. Let’s race!"

Alex Albon:
"We made some balance and setup changes after the Sprint and the car felt better in qualifying which is a positive takeaway. Ultimately, we just didn’t have the grip today; I was sliding around a bit and struggled to get the tyres in the right window in Q2. We found that we had decent grip with used sets in Q1, so we’ll review the operating windows and our out laps to better understand performance. Overtaking was difficult on this track in the Sprint, with it being a quiet race with not much action from my side. As a team this track wasn’t expected to suit us, but I’m optimistic for tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do during the race to make up some positions."