According to Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz, Ferrari experienced problems with getting the tyres up to temperature, which led to a poorer qualifying for the sprint race. Sainz believes that Ferrari will mainly have to try to ‘survive’ the sprint race.
“During the sprint race we will have to try to survive with what we have and fight from fifth place,” said Carlos Sainz, who mainly wants to avoid damage during the sprint race that would then be dramatic for qualifying for the race on Sunday.
“This is a very difficult circuit to go almost straight to qualifying. We didn’t have a good SQ3, but I think I saved my day with fifth place.”
“We managed to get through SQ1 and SQ2 without any major problems but then into SQ3 with the rain and the intermediates. We struggled a lot with the rear tyres, we couldn’t get them to the right temperature.”
Teammate Charles Leclerc slid off the track during the start of SQ3, which, according to Sainz, could also have happened to him because the tyre temperature was too low as he and many other drivers had been queuing at the exit of the pit lane for several minutes.
“We waited a long time at the exit of the pit lane with the intermediates. They got cold, Charles and I struggled a lot with warming up the tyres. Fortunately, the same thing that happened to him didn’t happen to me,” concluded Sainz.