After rounding off last weekend with his first victory in Formula 1, Carlos Sainz promised to go back to war with his Ferrari in Friday’s unusual classification in the sprint format of the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. the weight off after making his debut as poleman in the highest category of motorsports, so he went all out in the session that decided the starting positions for Saturday’s race.
In the first round, the Spaniard saw how one of his flying laps was eliminated, despite the fact that he affirmed on the radio that he had complied with the limits of the track, but that did not prevent him from passing without problems the two elimination cuts prior to the fight. for the first position.
Already in Q3, the Ferrari driver was placed third in the first attempt, one tenth behind Charles Leclerc and three behind Max Verstappen, and at the decisive moment he was just a few thousandths of the fastest time of the current Red Bull champion.
Thus, Carlos Sainz will start from third position in the sprint race on Saturday, which he sees with optimism after having regained confidence in his car. When asked about how his fastest lap had been, the man from Madrid acknowledged that it could have been better, although it was not bad at all.
“Certainly when you look back and when you see how tight it is, you look at the lap and look at those places where you had 10th or 1000th to get that pole position, but for sure they [Verstappen and Leclerc] also know where they’ve been. lost or have been able to win,” said the winner of the last race at Silverstone.
“We did a lap at the end of Q3, but it wasn’t easy because the tires were very cold after the red flag,” said Sainz. “I trusted the car in Turns 1 and 3, which was not easy, I know where the lap time is and I would have liked to have done a little better.
The Spaniard has been recovering the form he displayed last season, where he could be ‘the best of the rest’, beating his teammate in his first year at Ferrari, so he is aware that he can fight in 2022 .
“I am getting there, this qualifying has been strong, I have risked too much in Q1 and Q2, and I was able to go for it in Q3. I think we are making progress and I am certainly much more comfortable and confident in the last few races. , although there is still work to be done,” he said.
“Tomorrow we have free practice and we will do long runs on the tires to build confidence and go all out in the races,” explained Carlos Sainz about what he will do before the sprint race.
“Starting third, on the clean side, I think we can fight, and it’s going to be fun, because there’s a lot of slipstream here, and DRS. It’s going to be pretty good this weekend,” said the 112th winner in Formula history. 1.
