Turkish Grand Prix was good for Sainz: 'We can be satisfied'

Carlos Sainz had a great weekend in Turkey. He started the race from nineteenth place after an engine change but eventually managed to finish in eighth place. The Spaniard is satisfied that the engine change took place during this Grand Prix.

Sainz had a new power unit sitting in the back of his Ferrari, giving him an overtaking opportunity at Istanbul Park. This was clearly not a problem for the Ferrari driver as he finished the race in the points. Despite perhaps scoring better points, Sainz thinks this was a good time to do the engine change.

"I think it was the perfect race to take the penalty to then do a comeback,” Sainz said. “Of course, without the penalty, with the old engine, I would have been able to start more upfront and maybe a bit more in the mix. But in a long season, you need to put everything into perspective and this is a development that is giving us a bit of performance. I think it has been a very positive day, and a day where I managed to go through the field with really good pace, doing some good overtaking, minimising the damage of the engine penalty, which was the target," the 27-year-old driver told Motorsport Week.

Sloppy pit stop gives a 'what if' feeling

Sainz was delighted with the race but feels that his slow pit stop, which took him more than eight seconds to complete, has left him with a bad feeling. Still, he feels he and the team can be and remain satisfied.

"Yeah, you always are left with the ‘what if’, if we forget it quickly and we will forget it quickly, we will understand because it’s a day more to be happy than to be too disappointed."