Carlos Sainz’s first reaction after finishing 13th at the Italian Grand Prix was one of relief for former Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc, who escaped his serious Monza accident without injury. The Williams driver then turned his attention to his own race, a weekend that again ended without points for the Grove team despite signs of encouraging race pace.
Williams has won the Italian Grand Prix six times, most recently with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2001, but its latest visit to Monza highlighted another difficult phase for the team. After appearing to make progress last season, Williams has once again encountered a challenging run of results, with neither car reaching the points at the Temple of Speed.
Carlos Sainz relieved after Charles Leclerc’s Monza crash
Following the controversy surrounding contact between Carlos Sainz and Alexander Albon at the previous round in Zandvoort, both Williams drivers reached the chequered flag at Monza. Sainz, the former Ferrari driver, finished 13th, while Albon was classified 17th.
Before assessing his own performance, however, Sainz focused on Leclerc’s condition following the Ferrari driver’s heavy accident. The Monegasque’s race ended after a severe impact, with further details of Charles Leclerc’s Monza crash and his condition afterwards becoming a major talking point following the Italian Grand Prix.
“First of all, I’m happy to see Charles [Leclerc] unhurt after such a serious accident,” Sainz said. “From our side, we had a very good race today and an overall positive weekend, considering our limitations. Yesterday we had a solid qualifying and today we had a good start and good race pace.”
Sainz explained that the timing of his pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car helped him move ahead of Esteban Ocon, while he also credited the Williams mechanics for executing the stop well. The Spaniard added that his pace later allowed him to pass Oliver Bearman before the finish.
“The pit stop during the Virtual Safety Car allowed us to overtake Ocon, also thanks to a great job from our mechanics, and the good pace allowed us to pass Bearman towards the end,” Sainz continued. “Now I’m looking forward to racing in Madrid next weekend.”
Alexander Albon’s tyre gamble fails to deliver points
Charles Leclerc’s accident encouraged many drivers to change tyres, but Alexander Albon pursued a more aggressive strategy by attempting to complete the remainder of the race using only one set of hard tyres after the red flag. The gamble ultimately failed to produce the desired result as tyre degradation increased towards the closing stages.
“We tried to push to the maximum and use only one set of hard tyres after the red flag, but inevitably we had some degradation towards the end of the race,” Albon explained. “It was worth taking the risk.”
Despite finishing outside the points, Albon was encouraged by the performance level available from the Williams. He attributed the team’s improved race pace partly to the new power unit fitted for the Monza weekend, while acknowledging that the result also highlighted the work still required for Williams to achieve its targets.
“The race pace was the best we’ve had for a while, thanks to the new power unit fitted this weekend, but it also shows what we have available and what we need to do to achieve our goals,” Albon said. “We need to review today’s strategy and understand what we could have done differently. We had a good race, but there’s always something to improve.”
Williams turns its attention to a completely different Madrid challenge
Williams now moves directly from the high-speed demands of Monza to an entirely different test at the new Madrid venue. Both Sainz and Albon are expecting the next event to present fresh challenges, with the Madring circuit introducing Formula 1 to a completely new layout.
“Madrid will be a completely different track and it won’t be easy, but we’re looking forward to the challenge,” Albon concluded.
For Williams, the Italian Grand Prix therefore ended without championship points, but both drivers found positives in the car’s race pace. Sainz leaves Monza with a 13th-place finish and relief that Leclerc avoided injury, while Albon believes the team has useful performance to analyse before Formula 1 heads to Madrid.
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