Sainz: 'Red Bull's, Ferrari's and Mercedes will step it up'

"Overall, it has been a decent Friday because we managed to do the run plan," Sainz began to tell Sky Sports in a review of his first day in Singapore. "We had quite a lot of laps which on a city track is what you need, just to get laps under you belt."

Ferrari found out in the first free practice that the track was even bumpier than expected. Moreover, the tarmac was still very rough. "For FP2, we managed to improve the car a bit. We still have some things to look at because it looks like it will be a tight battle. We were more comfortable in FP2, but still not where we want to be. You have to have a lot of confidence to put a good lap around here, put all the sectors and corners together which are a lot of them. We are not at that level yet."

Sainz says he still has margin to push, he has some behind for in qualifying. However, the Madrileen knows that drivers like Max Verstappen will also find plenty of time towards the rest of the weekend. "I think today they [Red Bull] and a lot of other guys with issues didn't probably put the best possible time together, but tomorrow we will all have more margin to improve. I expect tomorrow will be faster and both Red Bull's, Ferrari's and Mercedes will step it up."