{"id":122042,"date":"2025-11-07T01:07:14","date_gmt":"2025-11-07T01:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/122042\/"},"modified":"2025-11-07T01:07:14","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T01:07:14","slug":"f1-news-sainz-sidelined-by-illness-ahead-of-sao-paulo-gp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/122042\/","title":{"rendered":"F1 news: Sainz sidelined by illness ahead of Sao Paulo GP"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Sainz
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCarlos Sainz was absent for media duties in Brazil on Thursday. Image: XPB Images<\/p>\n

The Spanish driver rested at the team hotel, with hopes he will be fit to race this weekend at Interlagos.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, Carlos is unwell and will not be coming to the track today, so all mandatory media slots will be cancelled. Apologies for any inconvenience,\u201d a Williams spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Sainz\u2019s absence comes at a critical stage for Williams, which is targeting its highest constructors\u2019 championship finish since 2017. The Grove-based team currently sits fifth, 39 points clear of sixth-placed Racing Bulls.<\/p>\n

The 2025 season has been a strong one for Sainz, who took Williams\u2019 first podium<\/a> since 2021 at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix and repeated the result in the Sprint race at the United States Grand Prix<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He enters the weekend 11th in the drivers\u2019 standings, trailing teammate Alex Albon by 35 points.<\/p>\n

Sainz\u2019s illness echoes a scare last year at the Saudi Arabian GP, when appendicitis forced the then-Ferrari driver out of the race, and Haas driver Oliver Bearman stepped in to score a seventh-place finish on his debut.<\/p>\n

The news comes off the back of a big week for Williams, with the team announcing a rebrand ahead of next season<\/a> and running a special Gulf Oil-themed livery<\/a> this weekend in Brazil.<\/p>\n

2025 F1 Sao Paulo Grand Prix \u2013 Schedule, how to watch, TV times & more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Carlos Sainz was absent for media duties in Brazil on Thursday. Image: XPB Images The Spanish driver rested…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122043,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[5703,111,139,69,85552,213,13971],"class_list":["post-122042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-carlos-sainz","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sao-paulo-gp","tag-sports","tag-williams"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122043"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}