Carlos Sainz to start from pitlane for Brazil race as Williams reveal grand plan

Williams F1 star Carlos Sainz has been demoted further after a dismal sprint qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix.

Sainz was already scheduled to start plum last having failed to get out of SQ1 on Friday, and his team have now announced that they will be trying different setup options on his car during the shorter race that may help them later in the weekend.

As a result of the car being changed under parc ferme conditions, Sainz will have to start from the pit lane, and a point-scoring performance is now looking highly unlikely.

An official statement put out by Williams on social media revealed their plan: "Carlos will start today’s sprint from the pit lane, allowing us to assess alternative setup options ahead of qualifying this afternoon."

An FIA document revealed that Williams have altered the suspension on the Spaniard's car.

It means that the sprint race will likely be used as an opportunity to gather data for both Sainz and his team-mate Alex Albon ready for the main race, where more points are on offer.

Saturday ready for busy day of action

The first race of the weekend takes place at 11am local time (BRT), before attention will switch onto the grand prix.

Grand prix qualifying takes place on Saturday afternoon local time, before the main race then headlines Sunday's action at the track.

Sainz is set to have company in the pit lane for the sprint race, with Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda also opting to use the race to experiment. The Japanese racer was set to start from 18th on the grid after another dismal qualifying session for him too.

Red Bull have changed Tsunoda's rear wing for one of a different specification, while the suspension has also been altered.

Tsunoda's Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen could only qualify sixth, while his two championship rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will start the sprint race from first and third respectively.

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