Sainz Blames Team for Last-Place Brazilian SQ1

Carlos Sainz expressed deep frustration after a dismal performance in Sprint Qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix on Friday, finishing last in SQ1 and securing a 20th-place start for Saturday's Sprint race at Interlagos. The Williams driver, who had recovered enough from an illness to participate despite missing Thursday's media duties, blamed poor team execution for preventing him from posting a competitive lap time.

Sainz's session unraveled quickly during the single practice and qualifying format at the Autodromo José Carlos Pace. Entering with momentum from an eighth-place finish in the lone Friday practice session, he encountered immediate setbacks. "This is the worst execution, the worst execution, I have seen in my life," Sainz vented over team radio as his elimination was confirmed. In post-session comments, he elaborated on the chaos: "Yeah, we just simply didn't do a good quali. I mean, first run was quite messy with traffic and problems with getting the tyres up to temperature. But then the second run, we managed to make our life even more difficult, and we almost didn't put two laps in. So yeah, in general, just I go out of this quali without knowing what was the...