Saturday in Qatar had Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon facing down two competitive Formula 1 sessions for Atlassian Williams Racing and enjoying top-10 times.
A relatively straightforward 19-lap Sprint saw our duo end the race in the top half of the field, following our Sprint qualifying performance, with a point scored from a P8 finish.
Qualifying had Carlos reach Q3, too, with a 1:20.287 having him qualify in P7 for tomorrow's Qatar GP, with Alex's Q2 exit getting him in a P15 time.
The short-form race started the day's action, and it proved a session where Carlos and Alex spent 30 minutes racing against the VCARB of Isack Hadjar.
An off-track moment for Charles Leclerc demoted the Ferrari through the order, but Hadjar's strong start had him slot in between the FW47s.
With overtaking options at a premium, there wasn't any opportunity for movement in the middle of the pack. The order finished with Carlos in P8 and Alex in P10, with just 1.6s separating the two Williams cars.
Qualifying ended up with split fortunes, however. While both drivers navigated Q1 without issue, struggles with the tyres for Alex had him in Q2 with a 1:20.629 lap good enough for P15.
Carlos continued on into Q3, and sat P8 after the early runs, setting a 1:20.707, but triggered an unusual red flag stoppage when the No.55 car picked up plastic when exiting the pit garage.
Some in-garage fixes in the slowdown had Carlos returning to the track with more speed to secure a 1:20.287 lap that will mean a P7 start.
That result sees Atlassian Williams Racing with our best qualifying for the Qatar GP in our history at the circuit as we look to end the season as strong as possible.
Full reaction to follow.
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