The Spanish driver had everything in his face to achieve what he had never done, win a Formula 1 race, and for this he had to beat his compatriot, Fernando Alonso, and an old acquaintance with whom he shared a team in his start in the top category. of motorsport, Max Verstappen.
Despite making a mistake at the last chicane on his final lap in qualifying for the 2022 Canadian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz was able to clinch third place, from which he went all out to pick up some much-needed points after several dropouts that he has been chaining from Australia. He soon managed to get the Alpine of the two-time champion out of the way, but the Dutchman from Red Bull escaped in the lead until creating a cushion of several seconds.
Only a virtual safety car caused by the withdrawals due to engine problems by Sergio Pérez and Mick Schumacher gave him the provisional head of the race, as the Madrid native tried to go for a different strategy compared to his rival. However, the direction of the race changed with Yuki Tsunoda’s accident, since a Safety Car came out that allowed him to squeeze Verstappen with newly fitted hard tires.
With about 20 laps to go , Sainz was glued to the Dutchman’s diffuser, but the RB18’s great traction at the hairpin on the back straight rendered all the Ferrari’s efforts with DRS futile. In his wake he passed the rest of the race, getting to a mere four tenths, but it was impossible to overtake the reigning world champion, who crossed the finish line for yet another victory and increased his lead in the classification of pilots.
“I pushed hard, I didn’t leave a millimeter behind the wall, and when braking I gave it my all,” said the Spaniard in the post-race interview. “I’ve tried everything to pass Max [Verstappen], but today we need that little bit of pace at the hairpin to catch that line before the chicane.”
“We were faster, and in the race too, but we lacked that little bit to overtake him,” the Ferrari driver acknowledged Jenson Button. “I’m happy with the pace, and that I was able to put pressure on Max throughout the test, but I think we stopped at the right time.”
“We have tried everything and we have been close to winning today, so I will extract the most positive and I will try it in the next one”, said Carlos Sainz after adding his 11th podium in Formula 1 in Canada.
Already in the DAZN F1 microphones, the Spaniard insisted that it was a great opportunity to win, but that this 2nd position was not what he expected. When asked if he was satisfied, he replied: “No, not really. It was too close to be satisfied, especially with the pace I had throughout the race, which was very good, I was very comfortable. , all the time faster than Max.”
“The strategy has been crucial, I think that without the last Safety Car it would have been difficult for him to pass me because I was going to stay out until the end, and he wasn’t picking me up very quickly,” explained the Ferrari driver. “I thought I could do it for the last few laps, then the safety car came out and I had to stop.”
“There I hesitated between the soft and the hard in case I could pass him with one of the two wheels, and we have been very fast, putting a lot of pressure on Max, but not enough to pass a Red Bull, for which you need six tenths per lap, and we had two or three”, assured the Madrilenian.
“It was probably the first time in the whole year that I was the fastest on the track, and that victory does not come when you are the fastest, it hurts more. We found a circuit that was difficult to overtake, especially in similar paced cars, and with the tailwind, the DRS did nothing,” said Sainz, who remains with 102 points in the world championship standings.
