Sainz sees improvement in race pace at Ferrari: 'Getting stronger'

Carlos Sainz struggled to keep up with teammate Charles Leclerc at the start of the season, but his performance in the red car is improving all the time. With Ferrari he is currently competing for third place in the Constructors' Championship.

Carlos Sainz tells Motorsport.com that so far it has mainly been a team effort to stay close to McLaren. "We are working together as a team and pushing as hard as we can to move the team forward. There will be races where Charles is clearly better and other races where I have to pass him, like I did in Portimao. That makes sense."

At Ferrari it was mainly searching for race pace, and last weekend the Spaniard says Ferrari showed that again. "But it's important that again we both showed a strong race pace, that we work well together, that we get stronger and stronger in the race. In the last two or three races we have executed good strategies, we have managed the races and tyres well. We are ready to keep working in the same way, because the atmosphere in the team is good. We just want to keep improving and wait for circuits where we will be stronger."

Sainz lacked some confidence during Austria GP

That which he believes he did have during the Styria GP, he missed last weekend. Despite that, certainly the last stint was very entertaining according to him.

"The last stint was fun. It always is when you are chasing and chasing. I managed to make some nice moves, thanks in part to Charles passing me to attack Ricciardo. We managed to do that, which gave us some extra points. The speed was strong, but my confidence in the car was maybe not as good as in the first race. We had a bit more trouble with the balance and the temperatures, but overall it was a good double-header in Austria and a good triple-header for me. That gives me confidence for the last two races before the summer break."

In England, Ferrari will try to carry on the nice form and challenge McLaren some more in the battle for third place.