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Carlos Sainz looks back at FP1: "A positive Friday, after a little heart attack!"

08:25, 12 Oct 2019

byMatt

Carlos Sainz deems his Friday as positive in the build-up to the Japanese Grand Prix weekend despite having a little moment at the start of FP1. He described this as a "little heart attack". If qualifying is cancelled, the McLaren driver will start from P7.

Over the next couple of races, the Spaniard will be looking to cement his place as the 'best of the rest' driver during the 2019 F1 season. If he outscores Pierre Gasly by three points or more this weekend, he'll move ahead of the former Aston Martin Red Bull Racing driver in the F1 world championship.

Sainz claims the car feels competitive around the Suzuka circuit.

“I think it’s been a positive Friday – after a little heart attack at the start of FP1! We managed to get the car back to the garage, the mechanics did a great job to get everything ready and we went back out to complete our run programme," Sainz reported.

"FP2 was also intense but I’m happy with how both sessions went. The car feels good and we looked competitive. However, not running tomorrow means there were different run plans today, so we can’t tell for sure where our competitors are. There is a bit of uncertainty but I’m confident we’ll be ready for Sunday.”