Carlos Sainz Jnr mustn’t lose time making an attempt to maintain Lewis Hamilton behind in immediately’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, says Williams group principal James Vowles.
For the second week in a row, Sainz has certified one place forward of Hamilton, the motive force who took his place at Ferrari this yr. Vowles praised Sainz’s efficiency after taking his finest beginning place since becoming a member of Williams.
“I’m actually pleased with the steps Carlos is making,” Vowles advised the official Components 1 channel. “He was actually in management. It was nice to listen to him on the radio, in command of what was occurring within the session and simply working with the group on one of the best run plan to get him up as excessive as attainable.
“And it was an excellent lap. They actually made some good time up in flip one, two, three and simply held on to it.”
Final week in Bahrain, Sainz tried to maintain Hamilton behind him through the opening stint, however took an excessive amount of out of his tyres which compromised him later within the race. Vowles mentioned Sainz should resist the temptation to combat too onerous in opposition to vehicles that are considerably faster than the Williams.
“Carlos mentioned this himself, however we’ve got to take a bit of little bit of care with Lewis,” mentioned Vowles. “We will qualify there, however we’re not fairly on that race tempo but.
“So I believe one of many reflections from Bahrain is it was nice to race the Ferrari, it regarded nice, however it did price us a factors place. So it’s ensuring we race accurately for the place the automotive is tomorrow.
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“Factors are on the desk, that’s the place the automotive’s been all weekend. However, and it’s at all times a giant however right here, it’s by no means a standard race. We’ve at all times had pink flag [or] Security Automobiles that dominate it. So it’s only a query of the place that falls.”
Earlier than this weekend started, Sainz mentioned he realised he wanted to “decide my fights a bit higher” than he did in Bahrain.
“Sadly this yr I believe with the Ferrari, the Mercedes and the Purple Bulls I must, if I’m forward of them, final yr I used to be combating them onerous however possibly this yr I have to be a bit extra sensible and allow them to go.
“Particularly on a observe like Bahrain, the place overtaking in the long run is straightforward they usually’re going to move you. Different tracks, not a lot. Possibly Suzuka or different tracks like Monaco, you undoubtedly combat it out.
“However in tracks like Bahrain, possibly decide a bit higher the fights and decide to be sure to’re ending within the factors.”
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