Sainz on Sprint Race podium: ‘Feeling more at ease with the car’

Carlos Sainz finished the Sprint race in third place at the Austrian Grand Prix, and is looking forward to tomorrow’s race, where the Spaniard will start from the same position where he crossed the finish line today.

Sainz was really happy with the result, especially how the day has started for him in the Shootout: "I’m happy especially given how today started in SQ1, spending the whole SQ1 in the garage, thinking I was going to get an out in SQ1, and having only one lap which I thought was not going to be enough to get into a rhythm, but I went P1. And from there, honestly, the day has been very good for me," the one-time race winner told Sky Sports.

He added: "I’ve been strong, very comfortable with the car. It is true that in the wet the car was tricky to drive, but we managed to bring it home to a solid P3 and get some points today."

The Spaniard also defended his teammate, Charles Leclerc, and he underlined how Sainz himself is feeling in his Ferrari at the moment. "Well, he (Leclerc) did a strong lap yesterday, I think he always does well in general. I’m also very strong, especially today. (...) I’m feeling more at ease with the car, I drive it better. I’m maximising more the potential of the car, it’s just matter of let’s see if we can improve and the results keep getting better and better."

What does Sainz expect for tomorrow’s race?

Sainz was happy about their grid position for Sunday’s race, which they achieved with Leclerc on Friday. "I’m excited but also, a bit keeping an eye on what’s going to happen, because I feel like we are obviously happy we have qualified on P2 and P3 (on Friday), we have been strong all weekend, but it’s been only with new tyres."

On the other hand, he knows his car’s weaknesses. "We know our weakness, it’s the long run, the degradation, the race pace. So I’m still a bit waiting to see how the car feels tomorrow and I think if we manage those two things well, a podium is possible with both cars but we will see," the Ferrari driver concluded.