After his victory in Australia, Carlos Sainz managed to finish on the podium behind both Red Bulls in Japan. However, Sainz admits that at one point during the race he thought a podium finish would be impossible.
It was just when Carlos Sainz thought a podium place was out of reach that the race turned in his direction and he still drove towards third place on the podium.
“I had a good race to be honest,” Carlos Sainz reflects on his race. “I knew that a podium place was possible if I drove a perfect race. I am very happy because with the tire degradation it was a big challenge.”
“At certain moments it looked a bit tricky, because of the strategies with one and two pit stops, I didn’t really know what was going on. Then the clouds came and tire degradation decreased. Suddenly I thought the strategy was faster with just one pit stop and we were on a two-stop.”
“I expected it to be very difficult to take fourth or third place again, because of how tricky it would be to overtake Mercedes during the second stint, because of how difficult it was to get another car here to follow.”
“But when I had the hard tyre compound installed at the end of the race, I was very fast, I flew, I managed the overtaking manoeuvres well and finished on the podium, I really pushed for that.”
“I had to overtake a lot of cars today and overtaking was very tricky. Here at Suzuka you always have to take the last chicane very well to have a good run towards the first corner.”
“I knew I had to be much faster compared to Lando and Charles to catch up with them. In the end I managed to do the overtaking manoeuvres and take the podium.”