Carlos Sainz handles several issues in Qualifying at the Spanish GP

Saturday, 12 September 2026:

- Free Practice 3: P18, 1:35.464, 15 laps

- Qualifying: P17, 1:35.312, 9 laps

• Carlos Sainz had to settle with the seventeenth-fastest time of the Qualifying session of the Spanish GP, where several different circumstances impeded him from getting to Q2.
• The Williams race driver did his fastest lap in Q1 (1:35.312) with 1 minute and 20 seconds still to go. He was fourteenth as he crossed the finish line, but the drivers who started their laps later were able to capitalise on track evolution to push him out.
• Carlos also encountered deployment issues. They cost him a few tenths and the ticket to Q2, since he missed the cut by just 5 thousandths of a second despite all these limitations.
• The Spanish driver was later penalised with a 3-place penalty on the starting grid for impeding Valtteri Bottas’ fast lap, in a moment when the radio with the communication did not work well.

QUOTES:

“It was a good lap but a scrappy qualifying overall, with several issues that cost us precious tenths in the end. We knew we would struggle at this track but we also went out very early for the last push, losing out on track evolution, and had some deployment losses that prevented us from getting into Q2. Apologies to Valtteri for impeding his lap, I wasn’t aware he was pushing and had no time to get out of his way".

"On a positive note, this track has been a lot of fun to drive at qualifying pace, and I’m enjoying being so close to the walls and always driving at the limit. It’s been incredible to feel the support of the fans throughout the weekend so far, and it’s a dream come true to be here racing in front of my home crowd. Tomorrow, overtaking will be difficult, but we will try our best to come back and give everyone something to cheer for!”.

COMING UP:

Sunday, 13 September 2026:

- Race: 16:00 local time (16:00 CEST)