REPORT: A Successful Saturday at COTA

Carlos scored our best ever Sprint result with a P3 finish, backed up by Alex in P6, in what was a hugely successful start to our Saturday in Austin ahead of the United States Grand Prix.

It had already been a good Friday, after Sprint Qualifying left our two cars in P7 and P9 on the grid – but contact ahead of us in the first corner, which both drivers were able to deftly avoid, promoted us to P3 and P6 within the first sector of the race.

The 19 lap Sprint was interrupted by two Safety Car periods, the last of which took the grid across the chequered flag at reduced speed – but even when racing was underway, Carlos looked comfortable in defending P3.

Our impressive race pace bodes well for the Grand Prix, for which Carlos will line up in P9, with Alex in P18.

There was extra pressure in Q1 after an early red flag was brought out to clear an Isaac Hadjar crash, interrupting most run plans.

Alex was a victim of that red flag, and was left with just one chance to get into Q2. He set an excellent lap time, but it was deleted for a track limit excursion at Turn 15, meaning he will start P18 in the Grand Prix, accounting for a Lance Stroll grid penalty.

Carlos, therefore, was our only car into Q2 – and he made it one step further. A P9 finish in Q3 sets him up well for another run at a points haul on Sunday.

James Vowles was delighted with the progress made, saying "it has been a brilliant day for us. The team walks away with nine more points in this World Championship with both Alex and Carlos contributing to the huge points haul.

"It’s the first Sprint podium we have ever achieved as Williams which is a proud moment for me. We are in a strong position with Carlos tomorrow, starting P9, and I think we have a good opportunity in the race.

"With Alex, we’ve been struggling with a differential issue across the weekend, and he did brilliantly in the Sprint to get those points in sixth. The team did a fantastic job rebuilding the back of the car before qualifying and the changes were positive, however they significantly changed the balance of the car which meant he wasn’t able to extract everything out of it and it was more unpredictable to him.

"I am confident that the platform he has for tomorrow will be strong and he’ll be back fighting towards points."

Carlos, meanwhile, was similarly happy. "Today was another good day," he said, "and I’m happy with my laps. We executed a clean session and pace felt strong. Unfortunately the wind picked up for the last part of qualifying and our car becomes a bit trickier to drive, so overall P9 was more or less our spot today.

"I have confidence on my race pace for tomorrow so I hope to give these great fans another exciting race to cheer on! We'll aim to move forwards through the pack and hopefully stay close to the cars at the front of the grid. Our ultimate goal is to bring home some more points for the team, so let’s race!" Alex added that, "it was a decent start to the day with the Sprint; we were able to stay out of trouble and make up some positions to bring home a few points.

"On Friday, we figured out there was a differential issue with the car, and we couldn’t make the changes in time for the Sprint, so going into qualifying the balance and setup was completely new.

"We need to have a look at the data properly, but by resolving the issue it impacted the balance, and I had more understeer than usual. Generally, the changes made a better and more predictable car, which is positive, but it needed a bit of tuning to accommodate the setup changes, and we didn’t have the time as it was straight into Q1. Let’s see what tomorrow brings."