The Spanish driver was close to his first victory in Formula 1 at the last Monaco Grand Prix, but a half lap on the narrow track of the Principality behind the Williams of Nicholas Latifi buried all his options. After that, Carlos Sainz was able to open the champagne to celebrate a bitter second position, with his mind set on the next appointment in Baku.
The man from Madrid was one of the first to go out on the track in the two free practice sessions, something vital to test the behavior of his Ferrari F1-75 on the long and fast track where the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix will be held.
Sainz was almost always behind his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and when he set the fastest lap of the afternoon, he went wide, so his soft compounds suffered. When he was about to make a second attempt, Sergio Pérez’s exit caused a yellow flag that ruined his lap, something that Max Verstappen also accused.
Thus, the Ferrari man had to settle for fifth place in the afternoon session in Baku, with his time set on the medium compound, while in the morning he was fourth, adding a total of 46 laps .
“It has been an interesting Friday, as always here in Baku,” said the Spaniard. “In Free Practice 1, we have had several challenges, we have suffered too much with the porpoising and with the friction with the ground, which have made the session uncomfortable”.
“We have worked in the right direction for Free Practice 2, and we have improved both the competitiveness and the sensations. The second session has been good in general, despite the fact that we have not been able to close a fast lap with the soft tire due to the yellow flags,” explained the Ferrari driver.
“Tomorrow we want to take another step forward and have a clean qualifying,” said Carlos Sainz, who expects an incident-free Saturday session, as did not happen last season, where he ran into Yuki Tsunoda’s car in Q3, for which stayed in fifth position, while Leclerc got pole position.
On the other side of the garage, the Monegasque had an easier day, leading in the afternoon in Baku: “We’ve had a solid first day. The progression we’ve made from FP1 to FP2 has been good and we’ve worked well as equipment”.
“The lap times are not representative, because no one made an ideal lap in the second session,” said the Ferrari driver. “There is still a lot of room for improvement, our race pace seemed quite strong and I felt good in the car.”
“Regarding the tyres, I felt comfortable in the long run and I didn’t have any graining, which is another positive point,” said the second-placed driver in the overall drivers’ standings for the 2022 Formula 1 season.
