F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Sainz: Higher grid slot wouldn’t have meant better result

Carlos Sainz thinks starting from a higher grid position at the Canadian Grand Prix would not have resulted in him securing a better result than the strong P9 the Toro Rosso ace claimed in Montreal.

Having crashed out of Q2, the Spaniard was then forced to start from 20th following a five-place penalty due to a gearbox change. Despite the race featuring no Safety Car, Sainz steadily picked his way up the order to claim his third consecutive points finish.

“I am really happy with how the race went,” the 21-year-old said. “I quickly forgot about the disappointment of Saturday and eventually scored a strong result.

“Even if the qualifying mistake had not happened, we would not have been much better than P9. Maybe a P8 was possible but that’s it. I am very pleased with that. We did a really good strategy, very decent pit stops at the right time.

“At the first stop, we managed to undercut a lot of cars with some good quali laps. I had not done them on Saturday but could do it at that time of the race (laughs). This put ourselves in contention with the two Force Indias. We were now in the leading group and I could go with them until the end with the same strategy.”

With Circuit Gilles Villeneuve putting a lot of emphasis on the power unit, Toro Rosso, which is racing year-old Ferrari engines this season, was braced for a challenging weekend. Thus, Sainz was surprised to perform so well but he is now confident his STR11 can be competitive on all kinds of tracks.

“We were really strong in this circuit, which we were not expecting at all. I want to congratulate the team; it means we are doing things right and we keep moving forward.

“I have now found a good baseline on my car that I can not apply more or less to every track and that gives me a lot of confidence. On the out laps, I can really push to do some good undercuts.”

2016 Canadian Grand Prix - F1i's driver ratings

Hamilton beats Vettel to win in Canada

Breakfast with ... David Hobbs

Technical feature: Under the skin of the Haas VF-16

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

Julien Billiotte

Recent Posts

Sebastian Montoya steps up to Formula 2 with Prema

Sebastian Montoya, the 19-year-old son of former Formula 1 star Juan Pablo Montoya, is set…

15 hours ago

Sauber finds its ‘Northern Star’ under Binotto’s leadership

When former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto took on the role of Chief Operating Officer…

16 hours ago

Leclerc hails a season ‘without missed opportunities' in 2024

Charles Leclerc concluded the 2024 F1 season with a sense of satisfaction, the Ferrari driver…

17 hours ago

Coulthard sounds alarm over FIA president’s rift with F1 drivers

Former Formula 1 driver David Coulthard has voiced his dismay at FIA president Mohammed Ben…

19 hours ago

The rapid rise and fall of Super Aguri in F1

Super Aguri's application to join Formula 1 became a reality on this day in 2005,…

20 hours ago

Ferrari's 2024 Season: Marked improvement and a fight to the finish

Ferrari roared back into contention in 2024 to deliver their strongest season in years, thanks…

21 hours ago