Sainz doesn't like getting 'stuck' behind a McLaren

Ferrari's Carlos Sainz often finds himself in contention with a McLaren driver on race day, which frustrates the Spaniard as the cars of his former team are among the most difficult to overtake.

McLaren and Ferrari have isolated themselves at the top of F1's midfield, which has led to some fierce on-track battles between their drivers.

At Silverstone, where Leclerc led the field for the better part of the British Grand Prix, Sainz spent most of his afternoon in sixth place right behind Daniel Ricciardo. And it was a frustrating experience for the Scuderia charger.

"Unfortunately, it has happened to me now a few times that stuck behind a McLaren I am not able to pass," Sainz admitted.

"It's not news, they have a very strong straightline speed, very strong deployment and power on exit of corners and it is probably one of the most difficult cars to overtake."

• Read also: Brown sets 2024 'no excuses' target for McLaren wins

Sainz's track position behind Ricciardo at Silverstone had come about as the result of a failed overcut due to a botched pitstop by his Ferrari crew.

"Yeah, unfortunately we were a step behind Ricciardo the whole race," he explained.

"First on the medium, then we actually managed to overcut him with a very strong pace during the cleaner laps but unfortunately after the slow pitstop I had to go behind him again.

"On the hard tyre it was even more difficult to overtake him, because it just felt like the hard tyre in the high speed could not take the load of the dirty air and I was understeering a lot more, and I couldn't keep up with him in the high speed.

"Even though I had DRS I wasn't close enough to him to try to get him."

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