REPORT: Our Strongest Sprint Qualifying Result Secured

Atlassian Williams Racing have secured their best Sprint Qualifying result since the format was introduced, with Carlos Sainz locking in P6 at Spa-Francorchamps. Meanwhile, Alex Albon will start from P16 after being hampered by a yellow flag.

In a tight SQ1, both of our drivers were forced to back off on their final push laps due to Lewis Hamilton spinning and stopping at the final chicane.

Carlos was safely through and able to return to the pits, but Alex was right on the cusp and needed to complete his lap. Having to lift for the yellow flag cost him any chance of improving, and he was eliminated in the first phase.

SQ2 became a one-shot attempt for most of the field, and Carlos was no exception. Despite losing 30 minutes of the day’s only Practice session earlier, he drove with confidence and posted a 1:42.051 to progress through to SQ3 in P8.

With Soft tyres fitted for the final phase of Sprint Qualifying, Carlos rolled out of the garage with just enough time for a single flying lap – once again delivering when it counted.

His 1:41.761 was good enough for P6: our strongest Sprint Qualifying result to date.

"I’m happy with P6 today," Carlos reflected. "It was a big turnaround from the team and myself after missing half of FP1, so it was good to get some decent laps in during SQ.

"We also have some updates on the car which I still need to properly understand in order to fine tune the set-up but, overall, when everything goes to plan, we can better show our pace. Hopefully tomorrow we can keep building through the weekend!"

"We had an issue which we thought we’d fixed after FP1," Alex shared, adding: "But we were losing a lot of lap time on the straights in Sprint Qualifying, so we will need to try something different to resolve it.

"We generally have a good car which seems quick around this circuit, so I’m still optimistic about the weekend."