'Maximum that we could do' – Sainz 'happy' with Las Vegas GP performance

Williams' Carlos Sainz believes that fifth in the Las Vegas Grand Prix "was the maximum we could do" having finished best of the midfield runners.

The Spaniard put in another impressive Qualifying performance during a wet and treacherous session to start third for the dry 50-lap race on the streets of Las Vegas.

Having lost a position to George Russell at the start, Sainz managed to hold fourth for the opening stint before slipping behind Kimi Antonelli, Oscar Piastri and Charles Leclerc through the sole pit stop phase to finish seventh on the road.

But post-race disqualifications for both the McLarens of Piastri and Lando Norris meant Sainz was elevated to fifth in the final classification, his second-best result of the season after his podium in Baku.

"I think we need to be happy. It was the maximum that we could do today," said Sainz on his initial P7 result.

"Maybe we were a bit conservative around the pit stops with the undercuts and overcuts of Piastri and Leclerc that we could have fought a bit harder with the timing of the pit stop to see if we could keep them behind.

"Ten seconds ahead of the other midfield cars. We were clearly the fastest of the midfield but the top six cars were just too quick for us."

He added: "I think the second half of the season, we have tonnes of pace. Obviously, sometimes I make a mistake or the team makes a mistake, sometimes we are simply unlucky, but the important thing is that the pace is there and we are showing it in this second half and are very competitive."

Williams fractionally extended their gap to Racing Bulls in the Teams' Championship, with the Grove-based squad now 31 points clear in fifth place.

This is despite Alex Albon's poor run of form which extended to six Grands Prix without points having retired in Las Vegas after a difficult weekend.

Albon had failed to advance beyond Q1 and was handed a five-second penalty after colliding with the back of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari in the race's early stages, which was compounded by a complete lack of radio communication with his engineer.

"It was a bit sketchy the first three laps. I knew I had damage because with Gabi [Bortoleto's] Lap 1 incident, it concatenated and I knew I hit the car in front, but I didn't know to what extent, so I was just driving around like 'this is a bit sketchy'," said Albon.

"Lewis made a mistake. I went for an overtake – honestly, maybe a slight misjudgement, but I think it was really minor. I was surprised I got a penalty for that, especially because I didn't cause him any issues, so I'm not sure why it was so strong.

"Then, we did a pit stop but with no radio, I couldn't tell them I had front wing damage, so I came in the next lap, and then had good pace – the same pace we've been showing all weekend.

"In the end, we're fighting for P18, so there's not really much point in driving around, and without radio, it's even harder. I didn't want to get in anyone's way with blue flags and all these kinds of things. It's frustrating, but we'll move on."