Carlos Sainz came close to pole position at Suzuka on Saturday. He had to get ahead of both Max Verstappen and teammate Charles Leclerc, but in the end it was less than a tenth difference in time between the three drivers.
Sainz told the cameras of F1.com that his lap was almost perfect. "It was a good lap, completely clean until the last chicane. I probably let the tyre get too hot, which cost me quite a bit of lap time." It meant Verstappen took pole with Leclerc on P2. Sainz was ultimately 0.057 slower than Verstappen.
Sainz always just too slow
Sainz is getting increasingly annoyed at missing out on pole position: "I am a bit tired of being half a tenth off pole." The Spaniard says he has been continuously close to Verstappen's and Leclerc's times since Zandvoort, but always ends up narrowly missing out on pole.
"The last half-tenth always seems to fall their way," Sainz said in conversation with Viaplay. Sainz hopes he can grab at least one more pole in the last four races of this year.