MADRID, 19 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Spanish driver Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), who will start third this Sunday at the Bahrain Grand Prix, the opening round of the Formula 1 World Championship, has described as “great news” having been able to fight for pole this Saturday in the qualifying session, and he hopes to soon find “that last tenth” that he has been missing.
“I still don’t understand the car very much and I think about it a lot while I’m driving, and that distracts me a bit. I was able to fight for that pole and I can’t complain. I’m missing that last tenth that I couldn’t extract,” he declared after finishing qualifying in Sakhir circuit.
In this sense, the man from Madrid, who came to lead Q3 in the final stretch until the appearance of his teammate Charles Leclerc, was “quite happy” with “the progress” he has made throughout the weekend. “It’s been hard for me to adapt to this car and know how to drive it, and I’ve been more than half a second behind this weekend,” he said.
“Being able to be fighting for pole in Q3 was good news. Not getting that tenth on the last lap was a shame, but Charles deserves it because he’s been ahead all weekend,” he said.
Regarding the free practice sessions, Sainz acknowledged that he was somewhat uncomfortable. “I’ve never been that far behind. Last year I was a couple of tenths behind at some circuits where I didn’t feel comfortable, and this weekend I’ve had to battle with a deficit of six or seven tenths since FP1.” concluded.