Sainz again
Fifth pole position for Carlos Sainz in Ferrari and in career, as well as the second consecutive after the one obtained in Monza: the qualifying session ended in the best possible way for the Spanish driver at Marina Bay, who after three high-level free practice sessions also won the pole start for the Singapore Grand Prix ahead of George Russell’s Mercedes and Charles Leclerc’s other Ferrari, respectively 72 and 79 thousandths of a second behind.
Pole without mirages
A result that highlights Sainz’s golden period and the team’s good form ‘Red’made even more emblematic by the sensational misstep of the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez, even eliminated in Q2 after a so far dull weekend for the Milton Keynes manufacturer: “We were very strong from the start – commented the #55 to Sky Sport F1 at the end of qualifying – you always have the doubt that Red Bull and Mercedes could have something more on Saturday, but the truth is that already from FP3, as well as in Q1 and Q2, by making clean laps pole was possible and I focused on that. We had to do calm laps without risking too much because today I had a lot of pace and I was very fast on the flying lap.”
Never so good in Ferrari
A moment of great form for the son of the two-time world rally champion, who has confirmed, in recent weeks, that he is experiencing his best in Maranello since, in 2021, he entered as the official driver of the ‘Cavallino ‘: “I have never been so familiar with a Ferrari – he added proudly – it’s my best moment as a driver here because I understand the car well and I drive it how it should be driven. I also changed my riding style to extract maximum potential. In McLaren and Toro Rosso I always drove at a high level, but It’s been my best moment since I’ve been at Ferrari and I want to continue like this. There will be some difficult weekends, but now that there are such good moments I want to take advantage of them to continue to get poles and to try to win races.”
Watch out for Mercedes
A magical weekend so far which does not hide the fears for the growth of Mercedes in the race, where the Brackley team seems to have a certain advantage over its competitors: “We are aware that Mercedes always goes a little faster in the race and they have better tire degradationand, and it will probably happen here too because we have already seen on Friday that they have less degradation and were able to manage the tires better especially after 5-6 laps – he concluded – that’s where you see their advantage, but they have to overcome us. I hope that Charles can move up to second position to work as a team to bring home the victory or a double, but it won’t be easy because Mercedes is still strong.”
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