Carlos Sainz admitted to feeling “one step behind” in Australian Grand Prix qualifying, but added this is “completely normal” given his arrival at a new team.

Sainz and Williams team-mate Alex Albon both made it through to Q3 at Albert Park, with Albon placing his car on the third row and the former Ferrari driver set to line up P10.

Carlos Sainz taking positives despite ‘scrappy qualifying’ in Melbourne

Williams’ apparent pace appeared to show itself as soon as pre-season testing, with Sainz setting the fastest time of anyone in Bahrain – though lap times in pre-season are notoriously unreliable for predicting an overall running order.

But once the cars arrived in Australia, the team has seemed to be more competitive than last season on early evidence, with Williams having finished ninth in last year’s Constructors’ Championship.

A double Q3 appearance for Albon and Sainz left both drivers pleased with their afternoon’s work at Albert Park, and while Sainz admitted to feeling “one step behind” as it stands, his speed will improve with more knowledge of the FW47.

“First of all, very happy for the team, for Alex, even for myself, to be in Q3 with my first quali with Williams,” Sainz told reporters after qualifying.

“And if you would have told us three months ago that we would have one car P6 and the other P10, we would have definitely taken it. So congrats to the whole team and to everyone involved.

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“At the same time, obviously for myself, I had a bit of a scrappy qualifying. Honestly, since FP2, FP3 on the soft tyres, I’ve been struggling to know where to find the lap time with the out-lap, with the setup of the car, I felt like I was always one step behind, always trailing and reacting to the circumstances, rather than being a bit of a step ahead.

“But it’s completely normal, and in a tight field you’re going to pay, and today I paid the price a bit in Q3, but as I said, it’s only a matter of time before it starts coming and putting together better laps, and I cannot wait.”

Sainz, who explained previously that he has now driven for half of the Formula 1 grid with his move to Williams, said it is natural to feel slightly behind the curve at a new team to begin with.

On this, he added prior knowledge of a car can be the difference between getting the final few tenths out of it on any given lap.

“Everyone who’s changed teams, everyone who is a bit more new to the situation, you can see everyone’s trailing a bit in qualifying, because you’re always one step behind,” he said.

“And when you know a car very well, you can always be one step ahead, and that’s the difference between being one or two tenths in front or being one or two tenths behind.

“I feel like this is just the beginning. I’m just going to get better at it, and I’m just going to keep improving. Massive learning curve for me and margin of improvement, which P10 in a first quali with Williams, is good news for me.”

As for Albon, he punched the air in the cockpit after qualifying on the third row for Williams on Saturday, though predicted the battle behind the top four of McLaren, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes is set to be a “dogfight” this year.

“I’m very happy,” Albon said of his third-row effort.

“I feel like we’ve obviously done a huge step from last year to this year, and not just in terms of performance, but also in terms of just parts and weight and everything else, it feels like we’ve approached this weekend very differently to last year.”

When asked if the car’s apparent potential in pre-season testing now looks validated in Melbourne, Albon replied: “Yes, it does. I think it also validates just how to tight the grid is.

“The Alpine and RB [Racing Bulls], I think any of us could have qualified P5 under the right conditions, and it’s going to be a dogfight in the midfield, and we’re getting closer to the top teams as well – so it’s going to be a really interesting season. It’s all to play for.”

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