Carlos Sainz thinks that Williams lacks the speed to compete for a top-five finish in Mexico after a grid penalty dropped him to 12th place. Interacting with the media, following the qualifying, the Spanish racer said that recovering to seventh or eighth would be a practical target.
Sainz qualified seventh, one of his best performances of the season, but carries a three-place grid penalty from the USGP for an aggressive move against Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli while fighting for seventh. The Williams racer also got two penalty points on his license for the incident.
Asked whether a top-five finish was achievable, Carlos Sainz admitted that seven from seventh, the car's speed would have limited him to seventh or eighth. Starting from 12th, he expects a difficult midfield fight and looks to fight his way back into the top eight. He added that cooling management would play a crucial role in performance of tires and overtaking chances.
The former Mexican GP winner remains positive about his shot but realistic about the challenges Williams face in Sunday's race.
Carlos Sainz thinks track evolution played a key role in the final session of qualifying session
Carlos Sainz thinks that track evolution played a big role in the Q3 session of qualifying. The Williams racer felt that a single lap was enough to comfortably progress through Q1 and Q2 and that the car displayed dominating one-lap pace. However, he accepted that the team could have tried to take more risks by using an extra set of tires for the final shootout.
Despite that, the improving track conditions helped Sainz secure his berth in Q3 using only one set of tires. In a conversation with SportsKeeda, Sainz admitted that track evolution has helped him a lot:
“Yeah, especially in Q3, and only having one set in Q3 maybe limited me to not being able to beat maybe a Mercedes. But to be honest, we would have gone through in Q1 and Q2 with a single lap, so it shows that we have a lot of pace today. Maybe for the future, saving that set, being a bit more brave to save a set for Q3 might give us a position or two. Very happy, very proud of the team because we're making huge progress through the year. Even if the pace wasn’t there at the beginning, now putting things together just shows what we can do.”
Last year's Mexican Grand Prix winner, Carlos Sainz, managed to enter the Top 10 again in 2025. However, the penalty carried over from the USGP weekend has sabotaged him for Sunday's race. Despite that the Mexican track has favored experience in the past, with its high altitude testing cooling systems and tire performance, both pivotal to have a strong result. As it appears, the former Ferrari racer sits 11th in the Drivers' championship with 38 points, while Williams led the midfield battle in fifth place with a total of 111 points.