Carlos Sainz, eighteenth in the Sprint Qualifying after a tough day in Zandvoort

Friday, 21 August 2026:

- Free Practice 1: P22, 1:16.345, 32 laps

- Sprint Qualifying: P18, 1:14.738, 7 laps

• Carlos Sainz was eighteenth in the Sprint Qualifying of the Dutch GP. His Friday was compromised by the damage that his car sustained after running off the track in this morning’s practice session.
• The Williams mechanics had to replace several parts of his FW48, and not all of them are from the latest spec, which affected his performance in this afternoon’s Qualifying.
• Despite everything, Carlos was just 42 milliseconds short of SQ2. He now tackles a Sprint race in which his priority is to regain confidence in the car to keep on fighting in the rest of the weekend.

QUOTES:

"Tough day. In FP1 I struggled with balance and sustained damage to the floor running through the gravel at turn 13. I couldn’t learn much from that session from there on and had to change some parts ahead of Sprint Quali. The session was very tight and I didn’t really find the right feeling with the car, which ultimately meant not progressing into SQ2. Now the focus is on what we can achieve tomorrow".

COMING UP:

Saturday, 22 August 2026:

- Sprint: 12:00 local time (12:00 CEST)

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