F1 star admits falling asleep at Miami Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli in 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

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F1 star admits falling asleep at Miami Grand Prix

An F1 star found a unique way to reset after a disappointing race

Sheona Mountford F1 Journalist

Motorsport journalist working in F1 since 2024.

Monday 5 May 2025 10:57

Carlos Sainz has revealed that he fell asleep between sessions at the Miami Grand Prix after a tricky Saturday for the F1 star.

The Williams star failed to finish the sprint race after a brush with the wall at Turn 13, an incident that resulted in damage to his left-hand wheels and forced him to retire to the garage.

According to the Spaniard however, a ‘20-minute’ nap managed to reset his mentality following his sprint race disappointment, and he produced a stunning lap in qualifying to claim P6 on the grid - crucially ahead of both Ferraris.

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"I kept spiralling thinking about all the things that we've been doing wrong, but then I went with my engineers and said, 'look, let's just reset, we have the potential'," Sainz told Sky Sports F1.

"[I said]'I'm going to take a 20-minute nap and come back with a different mentality because clearly this weekend is not being good, and let's give it a go in qualifying'."

Williams make gains at Miami Grand Prix

Williams have consistently featured in the top 10 at the Miami GP, with Alex Albon crossing the sprint finish line in P4. However, a 5-second time penalty after the race relegated him to P11 and lost a significant haul of points for the team.

Albon was also involved in a pit lane incident in Q1, but was handed a reprimand instead of a sporting penalty and maintained his P7 position on the grid.

However, Sainz remained tentative about Williams’ progress and suggested it may be track specific.

"To be three tenths off pole we must be doing things well this weekend," he continued.

"I think it might be a bit of an outlier where this track seems to suit our car quite nicely, because since FP1 the balance and everything just fell in the window and in the sweet spot."

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F1 Ferrari Carlos Sainz Williams Miami Grand Prix Alex Albon