F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Sainz survives 'stressful' qualifying, but wanted more

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz succeeded in qualifying in the top six for Sunday's Mexico City GP despite a particularly stressful qualifying session, but he admitted he had been hoping for even more.

Sainz had been fifth quickest in final practice earlier this day and had been one of the favourites to break into the Mercedes/Red Bull domination of the front two rows, but ultimately fell short.

In fact he was very lucky to do as well as he did, after a scare with the power unit of the car midway through Q1 left him struggling to get back up to speed after a lengthy red flag stoppage.

"This was one of the most eventful and stressful qualifying sessions of my career!" he said later. "After the engine starting procedure issue, the red flag and the traffic, in the end, the result wasn’t too bad

"But I’ve been fast all weekend and wanted more" he admitted. "With so many things going on I wasn’t able to get into the right rhythm and didn’t get a clean lap until the last attempt in Q3.

"The lap was not even a perfect one, but given how the session unfolded I cannot be too disappointed, although I would have preferred to have the same feeling with the car as in free practice."

"There’s no point denying we were expecting to do better," agreed Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies.

"We felt we had the potential to be third in the pecking order behind the two title contender teams and from what we could see up to Q2 this afternoon, it seemed achievable. But for various reasons things did not go our way."

"We must admit Pierre Gasly in the AlphaTauri was quicker than us, even without the tow he got from his team-mate," he added. "This also made the difference with regards to Daniel Ricciardo, our main rival in the fight for third.

"Despite this, we could have got both our drivers ahead of him," he concluded. "We cannot be happy with how today turned out, but it’s Sunday that counts when the points are given out.

"We know it will be a very tough race on a track where it’s easy to make a mistake. Another unknown could be reliability given the thin air encountered here in Mexico City. Getting the strategy right will also be important."

Sainz agreed that the high altitude could prove to be a major wildcard in this weekend's race.

"The race will be challenging as with thin air you have to manage tyres and temperatures, but it will be the same for everybody," he pointed out.

"The start will be very important. The dirty side is especially tricky here in Mexico but we’ll try our best to maximise our starting position.

"We’ll go for it and try to score good points!"

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

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…

2 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…

3 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…

5 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…

6 hours ago

Mercedes fined for starting grid tyre pressure infringement

The Mercedes team was hit with a fine by the FIA after Sunday’s Sao Paulo…

7 hours ago

Hamilton’s woes deepen after battling ‘plank of wood’ car in Brazil

Despite his best efforts, a lowly tenth-place finish was as good as it got for…

9 hours ago