Carlos Sainz issues damning half-term report: ‘Extremely frustrating’

Carlos Sainz has conceded the first half of his stint at Williams has been an “extremely frustrating” period.

Sainz joined Williams after being ousted at Ferrari in favour of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Spaniard opted to sign for the Grove-based squad despite interest from various F1 squads. While Williams has enjoyed a strong spell of results, Sainz's team-mate Alex Albon has scored a bulk of the points.

Having had to adjust to a new environment, Sainz acknowledged satisfaction with he has gelled well with the team.

“It’s a difficult question to write in a report card, but I would say it’s been with some highs and lows,” Sainz told media including RacingNews365 when asked to sum up his season to date. 

“Extremely frustrating because I feel like I’ve had a lot of pace in the car. 

“I’ve adapted to the team quickly. Right from the beginning, I felt with good speed in the car, but it’s been very difficult to put two results together through the whole first half of the season.”

Sainz has 16 points to his name after 14 rounds, leaving him towards the rear of the drivers' championship.

The Spaniard voiced frustration over how points have slipped through his grasp.

“When it was not a reliability issue, it was an incident with a rival,” he said. 

“And when it’s not an incident with another rival, you don’t even get to start the race in Austria. 

“Then it was traffic in Q1, or some strategic mistakes we’ve done through the year. So nothing really has come together for us in terms of results. But in the middle of those ups and downs, there’s speed. 

“There is proof that we are going in the right direction. It’s just when you don’t have a result to back it, that’s when it gets frustrating.”