Sainz: "I've done my best, I'll aim for the podium in the race"

Sainz consoles Ferrari

There qualification of the Spanish Grand Prix provided two completely different outcomes for the Ferrarion the one hand affected by Charles Leclerc’s 19th place (plagued by technical problems which the Scuderia is investigating) but on the other hand relieved by the first row conquered by Carlos Sainz, 2nd and behind only Max Verstappen, so far dominant on the Barcelona circuit. For the number 55 this is the best performance achieved in the hunt for pole position during this first part of the season, moreover in front of his home crowd at the same time disappointed by the ninth position of the other Spanish flag bearer, Fernando Alonso.

Made the most

Consequently, the single result of the 28-year-old from Madrid also seems to bear witness to the progress made by Ferrari precisely in anticipation of this weekend, during which the little horse has tested i new updates made on the SF-23. A positive response therefore for Sainz, as he himself was able to affirm during the post-qualification press conference: “This is a very beautiful moment, because today I believe that we extracted the maximum potential from the car – commented – it was a bit of a difficult weekend as we had to get used to the new updates and make them work ideally. We had more complicated sessions and some simpler ones, but in the end we got everything right in qualifying between Q1 and Q2, and then in Q3 there was excellent progress. Clearly it’s not the situation we would like because there is a rather large gap that divides us from Verstappenbut it is still a first step and we are focusing on better understanding the machine”.

A story already seen

A Sainz who has therefore restored confidence and morale to Ferrari after the disastrous performance of Leclerc, who will even start from the last row tomorrow afternoon: “I don’t know exactly what happened to Charles, but it seems like the same story all year – added the Spaniard – a very narrow window and, depending on the conditions, you struggle with different balances”. In conclusion, the Iberian driver provided his main objective for tomorrow’s race, scheduled at 3.00 pm on Sky Sport F1 and also free-to-air on TV8: “Here the flat third would have given me the clean side at the start. The slipstream up to turn 1, however, will be important. I will give everything to get to the podium“.