Carlos Sainz: The circuit in Austin is well suited to a sprint

      Carlos Sainz is preparing for the Austin round in good spirits, although Williams’ car does not really suit circuits with a large number of long fast corners. Nevertheless, the Spanish driver believes that the team's results in previous years are rather encouraging, not to mention his own achievements at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA). In 2024 he finished second there, and in 2022 he started from pole.

      But the conversation with journalists began on another topic: Carlos was asked how he adapts to the discomfort associated with changing time zones. The phrase "jet lag" does not exist in either Spanish or Russian, so we will use the term "syndrome of time zone changes."

      "I don't think such a syndrome exists. Sleep is for turtles," Sainz said. "If you believe in that syndrome, then it exists; if you don't believe in it, then it doesn't.

      I suppose we flew to Austin after two good races: in Baku we worked well and in Saturday as well, but both Sundays turned out well. Unfortunately, qualifying in Singapore did not go as we planned, but I think that over the course of the season we always have some difficulties on Saturdays. I also think that we have decent statistics showing that we often managed to recover.

      I think that together with the team we reacted correctly to the problem that hampered us on Saturday, we stepped up, applied an effective tactic and executed it perfectly on Sunday. All that gives extra confidence.

      I agree with Alex Albon, Williams' results in Austin in previous years are encouraging, although in theory tracks with long corners do not suit us very well. It sounds somewhat paradoxical, but in the past the team performed well here.

      Usually we race much more confidently than we qualify, i.e. the car is capable of an excellent race pace. We'll see how things go here, especially since for the first time in a long while we will have a sprint. I only remembered that when I flew to Austin. Only then did I think: 'My God, I almost forgot that there will be a sprint here!'

      Therefore, the weekend format is different, and we must prepare very well for Friday, because the sprint qualifying will take place that same day. And that somewhat changes the priorities: you need to clearly draw up an action plan, think through the diet and plan everything correctly. However, I have nothing against sprints.

      In my opinion, the Austin track is well suited to a sprint. The Saturday race that took place here last year gave me huge pleasure. I recall that I battled with Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and George Russell throughout the distance. I think sprints should only be held at tracks where there are opportunities for fighting and overtaking. And at COTA I will have decent opportunities."

      Sainz was also asked to return to his comments about the quality of the TV broadcasts — he spoke about this after Singapore, because, in his opinion, the directors preferred to show viewers not the on-track battles but the drivers' girlfriends.

      "I don't need to answer that question, because, as always, my comments were somewhat exaggerated," Carlos said. "But I think the organizers of the Singapore Grand Prix broadcast did not do the best job. I want to say that there have been other races when the broadcasts were simply magnificent, and viewers constantly saw incredibly vivid battles on track.

      From my point of view, that was not the case in Singapore. By the way, I also have weekends when I perform at a very high level, but sometimes it's different and I'm not doing so well… And from my point of view, the quality of the broadcast of the previous Grand Prix was not good enough, because the directors missed too many events happening on the track.

      Thinking back to that broadcast, I still agree that our girlfriends were not shown that much, but at the same time something could have happened on track or an overtake could have taken place. That doesn't mean I'm criticizing the TV people or how they do their job. It's just that Singapore is a track where it's very difficult to overtake, and it's a pity that we didn't see many duels. I hope they didn't take my words too personally…"