by SIMONE PELUSO
Second row harpooned
Carlos Sainz ‘saves’ the qualification of the Ferrari at the Red Bull Ring. The Spaniard closed at fourth place to only 11 thousandths by George Russell, but in any case he will be paired with the first Mercedes and ahead of Hamilton’s second on the second row at the start of the Sunday Grand Prix.
A good step forward compared to the qualifications of the Sprint race, not so much in the position – he gains one thanks to the cancellation of Piastri’s last time, which relegates him to seventh – but in flying lap performance. It will be anyway It’s hard to fight against the Mercedes in the racewhich appear more effective over the long distance according to what was seen on Friday (Hamilton actually only tried the long run, ‘forgetting’ about qualifying).
Close fight with Mercedes
“I’m satisfied, it was a positive qualification – commented Sainz at the end of the session – We were always there, fighting in the top five. It was definitely not easy because it was really tight, but in the end the decisive lap of Q3 was quite clean.”
“I think we did our best. There Mercedes seems a little ahead in terms of race pace compared to qualifying, where we pay just ten thousandths, but it will be a equally close race with them tomorrow” concluded the Spaniard.
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