Vaulz: This qualification cost me three years of my life!

      The last time a Williams driver started from the front row was more than four years ago — back in August 2021, when George Russell began the Belgian Grand Prix from second. But whereas that race in Spa unfolded in a strange way, today in Baku we witnessed a rather unusual qualifying.

      Once again, various circumstances intervened that helped Carlos Sainz post the second-fastest time on the challenging street circuit in the Azerbaijani capital.

      “It's hard to say whether it rained today or not, but judging by the footage from the many cameras around the circuit, it was drizzling,” commented James Vowles, head of Williams Racing, on Carlos’s achievement. “But what really pleased me was how our team worked over the previous ten days.

      If previously we didn’t perform best in qualifying and often failed to get the tyres working effectively, this weekend every time we went out we managed to solve that on the very first lap. A quick car allowed Carlos to deliver that result, so credit to him. He did a great job despite all the difficulties.

      I think this qualifying has taken three years off my life! (laughs) It wasn’t easy, not least because it was hard to find the right approach to the softest C6 tyre. It doesn’t forgive mistakes — just one slide on track and it immediately loses effectiveness. The Medium tyres worked better today.

      But there were other factors — wind and rain. Because of all that combined, qualifying was stopped with red flags six times. The good news for us is that the car has been quick since Friday. We understand that Max Verstappen, both McLaren drivers and the Ferrari drivers are very quick, but if you start ahead of them it gives you the opportunity to fight with them.

      The Hard compound works quite well over a race distance, and Carlos has two sets of those tyres, which gives a huge advantage. But no simulator can predict how events will unfold on Sunday, because we can expect safety cars, the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car, and red flags.”