Williams chief unpacks Carlos Sainz penalties and Alex Albon’s tough Mexico GP run

Williams boss James Vowles admitted the team "didn't get it right across the board" as Alex Albon's hard tyre, one-stop strategy yielded only 12th and Carlos Sainz's race was effectively over at Turn 1

Williams team principal James Vowles claimed the Grove outfit “didn’t get it right across the board” for Alex Albon at the Mexico Grand Prix and Carlos Sainz’s race “was over after Turn 1”.

Sainz picked up damage at the start of the race at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, which caused issues with the wheel speed sensors and, in turn, the pit speed limiter. As a result, the Spanish driver was hit with two penalties for exceeding the speed limit in the pitlane before ultimately retiring from the race.

“A very difficult day," Vowles said in the team debrief. "The positive news is the car was very fast, but we were unable to use it. In the case of Carlos, the race was over after Turn 1 and the damage resulted in both a flatspot but also damage to our wheel speed sensors, which are critical for the pit speed limiter.

"The net result is that we had to box earlier as the vibrations were significant, putting us on a two-stop, which led to us going 0.2 kilometres an hour over the pit speed limit, and receiving the five-second penalty.

"When we came in for the second stop, we tried controlling it manually at 70 kilometres an hour, and on exit, Carlos still went slightly over the pit speed limiter, resulting in a drive-through penalty, which we completed.

"Without the drive-through penalty, and even with all the other elements, Carlos was still fighting for a point today, which is very impressive."

Alexander Albon, Williams

Photo by: Peter Fox / Getty Images

Albon started from 17th on the grid and finished in 12th after a frustrating race. The Thai-British driver was just one of two drivers who opted to start the race on the hard tyre compound, which didn't have the pace. In addition, Williams opted for a one-stop strategy for Albon, which turned out to be the less favourable option.

"With Alex, we didn’t get it right across the board, from communication, to start tyre, to how we optimised his performance," Vowles added. "This is a blip in what has been a strong season, so let’s finish strong across the next four events."

Despite the disappointing weekend in Mexico, Williams continues in fifth in the constructors' standings ahead of the final four rounds of the season with 111 points.