F1 | Sainz: “I could have done better on the long runs, but I felt bad”

A difficult day. Carlos Sainz had to grit his teeth not so much after seeing the result of Free Practice 2 in Jeddah, which sees him in seventh place, more than 6 tenths behind the reference time set by his compatriot Fernando Alonso, but because of the gastroenteritis which in the last 24 hours debilitated him.

Sainz risked not taking part in Free Practice 1 in the early Italian afternoon (Oliver Bearman, Ferrari's reserve driver this weekend, was ready), but he gritted his teeth and lapped for the scheduled 2 hours, starting to make contact with the Saudi Arabia track.

“Obviously it was a very difficult day after feeling ill,” said Carlos at the end of Free Practice 2. “The last 24 hours have been hard and difficult for me.”

“Today was about trying to get out on track and learn as much as possible from the car, without pushing too much to the limit because I was still a bit out of shape, but yes, we managed to complete the program without any problems. I hope to feel better tomorrow, even if I probably won't be at 100%. But feeling better will allow me to be more at my limit and have a good Saturday.”

“This track is high-grip, with high asphalt grip and high speed, so it's also difficult from a physical point of view. And it's much more demanding for the car but also for the driver. So yes, a difficult day, as I said, but we managed to do it. Now we'll go and take a breather and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, praised Carlos for the work done today despite a situation that was far from simple from a physical point of view. His race pace was considered more than satisfactory by the French manager, but Sainz knows he can do better and underlined this at the end of the interview given at the end of the day.

“This day was more important for me than for the car, to be honest. That's why it's very difficult to read the lap times today. But tomorrow there's qualifying. We'll prepare everything and try to go into qualifying. Sunday will be a day a little different, because today my long runs weren't ideal.”