Sainz missed podium by an inch: 'Sainz was on the hunt with fresh tyres'

Carlos Sainz started the Sakhir GP race in his McLaren and looked fast. After the restart on lap seven, the Spaniard managed to overtake a clumsy Valtteri Bottas. In the end, Sainz missed the podium by a hair. According to team boss Andreas Seidl, this was due to the safety car.

Sainz narrowly missed his third podium

Sainz drove a strong race and had a fast pace. After his stop for fresh medium tires in lap 55 under a virtual safety car, the Spaniard was on the hunt for a podium place. The crash of substitute Jack Aitken at Williams threw a spanner in the works because of the subsequent safety car.

Autosport quotes the McLaren team boss: "Obviously, how the race played out, it worked out for Esteban and Lance. But I think they probably benefited also from the way the safety car came in, because this is where Carlos was on the hunt with the last set of tyres.

"I think our race was in the end with Ocon and Lance. As I said before, I guess with the timing of the safety cars and so on, we were only a bit unlucky to fight these two cars, I would say. Carlos did a great job, and together with the team, and I think we maximised everything we had in our hands, keeping Daniel [Ricciardo, ed.] and [Alex, ed.] Albon behind us," Seidl said.