Carlos Sainz has to move back three places on the grid because he held up Lewis Hamilton – Alexander Albon celebrates third Q3 appearance in third qualifying session
Carlos Sainz’s debut with Williams continues to be ill-fated. In the third qualifying session of the season in Japan, the Spaniard suffered his next qualifying defeat against Alexander Albon. While the Thai driver, in ninth place, continued to make it into Q3 in all qualifying sessions, Sainz, in twelfth place, got stuck in Q2.
He continues to wait for his big breakthrough at Williams and has to get used to the car. After qualifying, he speaks of mixed feelings: “We’ve made good progress this weekend, and I felt much more comfortable in the car,” he says.
“Of course, there are still a few things to adjust here and there, but this track demands a lot of confidence – and I feel like we’ve taken a step forward in that regard.”
“On the other hand, I lost about a tenth in sector 3 on my last lap, so Q3 would have been possible,” he says, reflecting. Only half a tenth of a second separated Sainz from his teammate in Q2, who made it into Q3 in tenth place. ‘So, of course, I’m not happy that I missed out,’ he says.
“Nevertheless, I’d rather take the positives from today and concentrate on tomorrow’s race, in which we will try everything to make up a few positions and have a positive Sunday.”
Penalty demotion after blockage
The hunt for points was made even more difficult after qualifying, because the stewards imposed a three-place penalty on Sainz for allegedly obstructing Lewis Hamilton.
This happened at the end of Q1. Sainz had just finished his fast lap when he was in the way of the Ferrari in turn 1, which had gone on its flying lap. Sainz stated before the commissioners that he had not received a warning from his team.
Carlos Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Lewis Hamilton
This drops Sainz from P12 to P15 for the Grand PrixF1 JapaneseGP pic. twitter.com/4kBmfW3lMJ
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 5, 2025
He was also completely surprised by Hamilton and was unable to see the Ferrari in his mirrors due to the high approach speed and the angle of his own vehicle.
Nevertheless, the stewards found that Williams would have had enough time to warn his driver, who could have reacted. Since the penalty is imposed regardless of whether the fault lies with the driver or the team, they issued a three-place penalty, so Sainz will start the race from 15th place on Sunday.
Albon: Balance on the last lap different
Things went better for teammate Alexander Albon, who finished ninth but still had some regrets about his position. If he had been just 0.005 seconds faster, he could have made it into eighth place, and 0.060 seconds would have even earned him sixth place.
According to him, he could easily have made it into sixth place, but he had to deal with a change in balance in his last Q3 run. “My best lap felt different from all the others,” he says. “I don’t know, we’ll have to go over it and find out what’s changed, but the car felt good.”
Three Q3s in three races*
*Four if you count China Sprint Race pic.twitter.com/wPj5UJpBcW
— Atlassian Williams Racing (@WilliamsRacing) April 5, 2025
“It felt more like I wanted it to, the balance I’ve been looking for all weekend,” said Albon. But what initially sounded positive and helpful was a bit of a problem for him. “Because it was only the case on this one lap, it was almost as if I had to readjust my driving style,” he says.
“If you go into every corner with a different balance, you don’t always have full control over the car,” says Albon.
Sixth place within reach
Turn 6 in particular caused Williams some problems this weekend. “It was our weakest corner and we tried everything to get faster there, but especially our midfield rivals like RB are extremely strong there compared to us, even the Haas.”
“So that’s a focus point for us as a team, to figure out why we’re so weak there. If we could fix that, we’d be in a pretty comfortable position,” says Albon, who reckons sixth place would have been within reach.
“If I could have had one more lap, I would have known what was happening and found another tenth. But we really can’t complain.”
Now Williams has to maintain its position in the race and score points. Albon thinks this is possible because his team is the second-best team in midfield behind the Racing Bulls.
“In the end, it will come down to the rain and the strategy,” he says, hoping for the spectators’ sake that it will be wet. ‘Tire wear is so low now with this newly resurfaced track, so it could be a pretty boring race if it stays dry.’
