F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Sainz: "It really looked like it was going wrong!'

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz admitted that he felt his chances in the Russian Grand Prix were slipping away from him when it all started going wrong during the opening stint.

Sainz had narrowly missed out on taking pole position in qualifying on Saturday but started alongside his former McLaren team mate Lando Norris on the front row for Sunday's race in Sochi.

He got the better launch and managed to take the lead from Norris through the opening corners, which he held for the first 12 laps. "We made a perfect start from the dirty side, braking late into turn 2 and risking it on the outside of Lando to get into the lead.

But after pulling out a comfortable lead, Sainz then suffered from excessive graining on his medium tyres. After the McLaren blasted past him on the back straight to retake the lead, Sainz headed to pit lane for a new set of hard tyres.

"Unfortunately we suffered from graining and couldn’t hold P1 for much longer and had to pit early," he told the media after the finish, adding that the ease with which Norris had passed him was also a concern.

"We need to keep analysing and keep seeing what we can do better with tyres, with fuel, with the top speed," he said. "[We need] to make sure that the next time a Ferrari is leading a Grand Prix we do not get overtaken as easily as it happened today.

"As a team we need to keep analysing what we can do better," he insisted. "We’ve got some time before the next race, so we will keep pushing."

Sainz said that at this stage of the race it looked like his chances of a strong result were out of reach. "At some point in the race it really looked like it was going wrong," he admitted. "At some point I thought podium wasn’t happening.

“After suffering so much graining with the medium tyre. After leading the race quite comfortably for the first seven, eight laps, and facing so much degradation and losing the position to Lando, and being one of the first ones to pit, and getting in the queue behind Valtteri and suffering in all that traffic...

However, he bided his time and once the other drivers had made their own stops Sainz was back up to third place, now running behind Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

"We did very good stint management on the hard behind the traffic and then we managed to push," Sainz said. "We were on course for a reasonably comfortable P3 before the rain came and made everything a lot trickier."

Sainz said the decision to pit for intermediate tyres when the rain intensified had been crucial to the ultimate outcome.

"With the used hard it was clear to me we needed to box for inters and together with the team we made the right decision at the right moment.

"We made exactly the right decision at the right time," he said. "[I] nearly lost the car two or three times, so [the pit wall] did the call to come in for inters just to make sure we made it to the end.

“In the end we decided to go for inters in the fast four laps and it worked out beautifully, and we ended up third," he continued.

"Good calls, good management - just a bit more obstacles than I was expecting after leading into turn 2!," he said. "It’s a happy podium."

Unfortunately his team mate Charles Leclerc didn't have such a happy ending to his day. The Monegasque started the race from the back row and was up in the top five when the rain started. Unlike Sainz he stayed out too long on the slick tyres and ended up dropping to 15th.

"What a disappointing end to an otherwise extremely positive race," he sighed. "Carlos was ahead and decided to pit for Inters, while I still had some doubts. I tried to do another lap on slicks.

"[I was] hoping that the rain would decrease but it started pouring down and it was just impossible to go on without pitting with two laps to go. That was basically the end of my race, which is a real shame."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.

Recent Posts

Alonso pushed through agonizing pain to complete Sao Paulo GP

Fernando Alonso braved both physical agony and mechanical challenges in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix,…

25 mins ago

Alpine double-podium in Brazil could deliver $30 million windfall

Alpine’s remarkable double podium at the São Paulo Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Pierre…

15 hours ago

F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2024 São Paulo GP

Alexander Albon, Williams (Did Not Start): 5.5/10 Alex Albon is definitely going through something of…

16 hours ago

Jos Verstappen rips British media after Brazilian Max fest

Jos Verstappen wasted no time after his son spectacular win at the São Paulo Grand…

18 hours ago

Leclerc left with ‘mixed feelings’ after disappointing Sao Paulo GP

Charles Leclerc's weekend in Sao Paulo was unfortunately a stark contrast to Ferrari's recent triumphs…

19 hours ago

Back when Kimi knew exactly what he was doing

Twelve years ago on this day, Kimi Raikkonen took a popular win at the 2012…

21 hours ago