Carlos Sainz to start thirteenth in the Sao Paulo GP

Saturday, 7 November 2026:

- Free Practice 3: P19, 1:13.303, 21 laps

- Qualifying: P15, 1:31.785, 19 laps

• Carlos Sainz made it to Q2 in the Qualifying of the São Paulo GP, which was halted for over an hour due to the heavy rains that affected the region today.
• When the session was finally able to resume, the Williams race driver went for the full-wet tyre and improved his lap times continuously until he set a 1:32.959 lap, which granted him P14 in Q1.
• In Q2, a red flag following a crash from a Haas impeded the Spanish driver from setting a lap on the Intermediate tyre, which could have taken him all the way to Q3.

QUOTES:

“A tricky qualifying out there but the car was feeling really good. We were strong on the extreme wets as we got the tyres working and we were setting competitive lap times. Unfortunately I switched to the intermediate compound one lap too late and the red flag didn’t allow me to put a lap time on the board with that tyre, which was very frustrating but we were just unlucky. The FIA handled today well and made the right call to pause Q1, and they did well to make the most of the gap between showers. A bit of rain tomorrow would be welcome, and if we’re able to stay out of trouble, we can have an exciting race”.

COMING UP:

Sunday, 8 November 2026:

- Race: 14:00 local time (18:00 CET)