Carlos Sainz Jnr, Williams, Hungaroring, 2025

Carlos Sainz Jnr doubts he can score points in today’s Hungarian Grand Prix after reversing most of the changes he made to his car prior to qualifying.

He claimed the best starting position of the two Williams drivers by taking 13th on the grid. He missed the cut for Q3 by 0.094 seconds.

Sainz said the team expected the Hungaroring would prove one of the more challenging tracks for the FW47.

“We ended up reverting back on a lot of the set-up items we tried during the weekend,” he explained. “We went back to a car I know and more or less did the maximum that was available to us today with P13.

“It’s been a very difficult track for the Williams so far but we knew that [would be the case] coming into here and we just need to maximise whatever we have.”

However he believes it is unlikely he will be able to finish in the top 10. “We’re going to try our best to get a point or two, but realistically speaking we don’t have the pace to do so,” he said. “But the races, you always need to race them and see what we can do.”

His team mate Alexander Albon qualified last on the grid and said he hadn’t felt very comfortable in the team’s car. Team principal James Vowles confirmed the team had set the two cars up differently.

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“With Alex, we tried a different direction and a different way of working the tyres, and we learned a lot thanks to his efforts,” said Vowles. “But it will come to us [on Sunday].

“The car in a race condition should be better than where it is today. It also looks like there’s rain on the forecast and in that condition, your qualifying place is less important than the ability to get the execution right on the day.”

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