Williams came into the Mexico City weekend full of hope for a strong showing \u2013 and Carlos Sainz\u2019s pace certainly gave the team plenty of early encouragement. But it all unravelled on race day for the Grove-based team, with neither driver able to score.<\/p>\n
Sainz<\/a> had looked the stronger of the duo in practice and qualified a brilliant seventh, but started 12th thanks to a penalty<\/a> he picked up in Austin for a collision with Kimi Antonelli. That left the Spaniard very much in the thick of the midfield pack in Mexico, and he was immediately involved in a first lap incident with Liam Lawson.<\/p>\n At first it did not look too costly, with Sainz rising up into the top 10, but problems began when he made his first pit stop and found himself with a time penalty for speeding in the pit lane. A second penalty for the same offence was escalated to a drive through, wrecking Sainz\u2019s race.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had contact in Turn 1, a big melee of three or four cars that were side by side. In that contact, we damaged the rim of the first set of tyres that were giving massive vibrations,\u201d the Spaniard explained.<\/p>\n \u201cWe lost all the sensors of the front tyres which meant we lost the possibility to engage the pit limiter. So, every time we were going through the pit lane, we were having issues because the sensor wasn\u2019t reading and I didn\u2019t know what speed I was going.<\/p>\n \u201cSo, every time we were in the pits I was getting a penalty. Which in the end, even if we were on for points scoring positions today, we just had too many issues in the car \u2013 far too many issues from that Turn 1 race incident.\u201d<\/p>\n Sainz did not even see the chequered flag, spinning into retirement in the stadium towards the end of the race and opting to park up behind the barriers. That left his team mate to take the chequered flag in 12th, having started 17th.<\/p>\n