Sainz 'perplexed' as pre-season speed disappears.

      "We require these ten days to thoroughly analyze everything."

      Carlos Sainz departs Shanghai in a state of confusion regarding "one of the oddest drops in performance I've experienced in my career." After losing his Ferrari race seat and accepting a demotion in the grid, the 30-year-old Spaniard initially made a strong impression in his new Williams team. However, following a crash in the early moments of the challenging season opener in Australia, the results from both the Shanghai sprint and main races surprised Sainz significantly.

      "I'm feeling somewhat perplexed," the four-time Grand Prix winner shared with DAZN. "I was very fast during the Abu Dhabi tests and also in Bahrain, but for some reason, all the speed I had during the tests disappeared in an instant during my first actual race with the team," he commented in China on Sunday. "There’s a lot to consider, and we need these ten days to calmly analyze everything and determine what improvements we can make," he mentioned, alluding to the brief period before the events at Suzuka.

      "Ten days should be sufficient; I'm confident we’ll discover something and return stronger. However, our progress here has been quite slow," Sainz acknowledged.

      Adding to Sainz’s woes, teammate Alex Albon is not experiencing the same issues. "From yesterday to today, we significantly changed the setup of both cars, which worked for Alex, enabling him to finish in the points," the Spaniard explained. "On the other hand, I struggled greatly with front graining, causing excessive wear on both the medium and hard tyres, which hindered my speed. There's a lot to look into. This was my first real test with the car, and it’s clear it didn’t go as planned."

      Sainz expressed optimism that Williams would find a swift solution, pointing out that while Haas officials were pessimistic about a "fundamental" issue with their car after Australia, "suddenly, they appear to have made significant improvements, just like last year."

      Haas newcomer Esteban Ocon acknowledged how quickly the small American team resolved its concerning earlier issues. "Everyone is pleased," he stated to Canal Plus. "We managed to turn the situation around in a week. It demonstrates that we know the direction we are heading."