Sainz 'quite happy' despite missing out on front row

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz insisted he was "quite happy" with the outcome of Saturday's qualifying session for the Bahrain Grand Prix, the first race of the 2022 Formula 1 world championship.

Sainz had been second quickest in both Q1 and Q2, but lost out to both Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the final top ten pole shoot-out round meaning that he will start Sunday's race from third place.

He lost out to the Red Bull by just six thousandths of a second, but was determined not to be too crestfallen at missing out on locking out the front row for Ferrari.

“To be fair, I am quite happy with the progress that I have done throughout the weekend," he insisted when talking to the media in parc ferme after the end of the evening session.

"I’ve been very far off, really struggling with this car, to understand how to drive it and I’ve been more than half a second behind the whole weekend.

"To be even fighting for the pole position today in qualifying was good news for me," he said.

"To put together a good lap there at the beginning of Q3 and then not managing to extract that last tenth is a pity.

"At the same time it’s deserved. I think Charles has been ahead the whole weekend and he deserved that pole position, and the team did such a great job.”

Sainz will now start tomorrow's race alongside Verstappen's team mate Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton lining up in fifth right behind.

• Read also: Leclerc snatches Bahrain pole from Verstappen and Sainz

Earlier, Sainz had been reprimanded by the race stewards for a pit lane incident that took place during final practice.

Sainz was investigated for an unsafe release that impeded Alpine's Fernando Alonso, who had been travelling down the 'fast lane' at the time.

The stewards reviewed the video evidence and questioned Sainz, who accepted admitted "fault" for the near miss, but escaped with just a reprimand rather than a full penalty, which will not be classified as a 'driving infringement'.

"The driver accepts that he was at fault in this incident due to a misunderstanding of the communication signals from the mechanic, compounded by his lack of vision to the side of the car," the stewards explained in a statement released by the FIA.

Under new rules, any driver receiving five reprimands in the same season will will be given a ten-place grid penalty if at least four are regarded as driving infringements.

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