Challenging Friday for Carlos Sainz as Sepang showcases the limitations of the Williams FW48

Friday, 2 October 2026:

- Free Practice 1: P20, 1:40.605, 25 laps

- Free Practice 2: P17, 1:39.930, 31 laps

• Carlos Sainz overcame the first day in Sepang without any setbacks, albeit it was tough since the long, fast corners of this circuit penalize the weaknesses of the Williams car.
• The risk of rain did not materialize in the end and teams were able to work in dry conditions.
• The Williams race driver turned his attention to the Soft and Medium tyre compounds, on which he put together stints longer than 10 laps in both sessions.
• Tyre management was one of the keys of the day, also because track temperature hit almost 60 degrees at the start of the second practice session.

QUOTES:

"Very difficult Friday for us. Unfortunately, we see that on this track we are back to performing at the level that we were, towards the end of the grid, unless we find something extraordinary going into the weekend. We did some setup changes that helped in FP2, but we continue to struggle at high speed, long corners which also affects our degradation on such a rough tarmac. We’ll keep working on solutions for tomorrow and Sunday".

COMING UP:

Saturday, 3 October 2026:

- Free Practice 3: 12:30 local time (06:30 CEST)

- Qualifying: 16:00 local time (10:00 CEST)