Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz believes the McLaren MCL35M is one of the most difficult cars to overtake after he failed to pass Daniel Ricciardo during the British Grand Prix.
Sainz was stuck in sixth place for much of the race behind Ricciardo, but couldn’t move ahead of the Australian despite the assistance of slipstream and DRS.
The Ferrari driver was also hampered by a slow pit stop when he swapped over to Hard tyres, which he believes cost him the chance to complete a successful overcut.
“We were stuck behind each other for the whole race, first on the Medium and then we actually managed to overcut him after very good pace,” Sainz said.
“Unfortunately the slow pit stop, I had to go behind him again and on the Hard tyre it was even more difficult to overtake him.
“It just felt in the high-speed, it couldn’t take the load in the dirty air and I was understeering a lot more.
“I couldn’t keep up with him in the high-speed and even though I had DRS I wasn’t close enough in Turn 15.
“So it has happened to me, being stuck behind a McLaren and unable to pass but they have very strong straight-line speed, very strong deployment and power you know in the exit of the corners and it is probably one of the most difficult cars to overtake on track.”
McLaren and Ferrari are currently embroiled in a fight for third in the Constructors’ Championship, with McLaren leading their rivals by 15 points.
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