Williams team principal James Vowles has shed further light on what caused Carlos Sainz Jnr to crash out on the first lap of the Australian Grand Prix.
The team’s new driver spun into a barrier at the final corner in the wet conditions shortly after the start of the race. The Safety Car had been deployed due to Jack Doohan’s crash moments earlier.
Vowles said the combination of low-grip conditions and unexpected power delivery while the FW47 was in its Safety Car mode led to Sainz spinning.
“He was coming through the last corner, he was in second gear, he held a fairly constant throttle position – actually a tiny bit lower, a percent or two lower – and pulled for an upshift into third gear, so it’s a part throttle upshift,” said Vowles in a video released by the team.
“When he did so, what happens inside those conditions is we’re in a different mode, it’s a Safety Car mode, so that runs the systems in a very different way if we’re in flat out. And what happens is, as you would imagine, we have a disengagement of power and torque and then a re-engagement of power and torque.
“Now, there was a tiny bit more than would have been expected. For me, it was an accumulation of conditions.”
The team is looking into what changes it needs to make to prevent a repeat of the problem. “First and foremost, I think what we have to review is how and what we’re doing with those settings and that Safety Car mode in wet conditions,” said Vowles. “I don’t think we were optimum, and that’s on us as a team.
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“The second is that it was treacherous out there. I really can’t state that enough. When you’re going slowly, your tyre temperatures are being lost, any small amount of additional grip loss will be accentuated, and I think that’s what we have there.
“We’re still ongoing in terms of reviewing because clearly we need to make sure that we’re improving in every single area and providing a car to the drivers that’s predictable and consistent.”
After retiring from the race Sainz joined the team on the pit wall to help them react to the changing conditions with the remaining car driven by his team mate Alexander Albon, which led to him finishing a strong fifth. Vowles said the team was grateful for his input.
“What Carlos was doing was trying to provide as much information as possible, be that about car performance, the conditions, what was coming in on the weather radar,” said Vowles. “And his insight was fantastic. It was useful, it was clear.
“He actually said it was more nerve-wracking being up there on the pit wall, with the amount of information coming in, than driving around the car in those conditions, which I don’t believe for a second. But irrespective, it was still great to have him by our side.”
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