Unhappy Sainz rues qualifying that 'snowballed into disaster'

For the second race in succession McLaren's Carlos Sainz failed to gain access to the top-10 shootout in qualifying, the Spaniard hindered by a mysterious lack of rear-end grip on his MCL34.

Sainz enjoyed a strong start to the Saturday afternoon session, finishing the opening segment P7 but it was all downhill from there, contrary to McLaren teammate Lando Norris who made the Q3 cut.

"It's been a bit of a difficult weekend for me, never feeling quite the rear end from the car," Sainz explained.

"But apart from that, Q1 was very positive, I was feeling like we could have a good qualifying, and then I just went slower with every set.

P8 Norris on the pace but admits race 'won't be easy'

"I did a [1m]26.2 on the first set, and then [1m]26.3s, [1m]26.5 and [1m]26.7 at the end. So I just went slower and slower without really knowing why."

"I just felt immediately when I went into Turn 3 I had no rear end in the car. I knew it was going to be a tough lap, and it just snowballed into a disaster."

Sainz felt puzzled by the reverse progress of his car in Q2 and had yet to get to the bottom of the issue with his team.

©McLaren

"Normally you improve half a second from Q1 to Q2, but I managed to lose half a second!

"So it's difficult to explain, and no surprise because we definitely felt very tricky out there. But we need to explain why.

"Tomorrow should be better, but today I'm definitely not happy.

"Today it's time to analyse why today was such a disaster in terms of why the balance of the car was changing so much in qualifying - but also knowing tomorrow is going to be an interesting day and we can move forward."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.