Carlos Sainz revealed that his Ferrari car “came alive” through qualifying at Formula 1‘s United States Grand Prix as he hailed the team’s pace as the “biggest positive”.
Sainz backed up an impressive charge to second place in the truncated Sprint race as he headed a Ferrari second-row lock-out along with team-mate Charles Leclerc.
The Spaniard looked in competitive shape throughout each session and he delivered on that promise come Q3 to post a time that was one-tenth quicker than Leclerc.
However, Sainz was made to ponder what could’ve been as George Russell’s crash meant he was unable to complete his second lap when he was on track to improve.
Asked whether he could have bettered his initial time, Sainz said: “Yeah, definitely, obviously everyone can say the same, no? Lando [Norris] deserves to be on pole.
“Max [Verstappen] deserves to be second. I deserve to be third because they did a better job in the first run.
“But that second lap, I don’t know what changed, if it was a lower track temp or what but the car came alive and we were coming with a very fast lap.
“To be in the ballpark with these two guys, whether to beat them or not, I don’t know but, yeah, to be in the ballpark, it’s a bit of a shame.
“But we trust that we can hopefully get them tomorrow in the race, because the Sprint was strong and the car even in qualifying took a step compared to yesterday.”
Sainz pleased with Ferrari progress
Sainz admitted that F1’s return to a conventional venue at the Circuit of the Americas would determine the progress it has made with the updates it brought to Monza.
READ MORE: Carlos Sainz admits Ferrari F1 title hopes rest on competitive US GP showing
With the Maranello-based squad having been well in the mix on both the short and long-run pace, Sainz is confident that Ferrari has taken huge strides with the SF-24.
“For me, that’s the biggest positive so far of the weekend,” he said regarding Ferrari’s competitiveness.
“The last normal track was, let’s say, more Zandvoort, Spa, and there we were clear two to four tenths off from a McLaren or a Mercedes.
“And this weekend, it seems like maybe in quali we don’t have the edge to fight for them.
“Although that last lap in quali, something happened to the car and with my lap that I was really coming on a quick one, even for qualifying.
“But the reality is that this weekend we’re in the fight. And I couldn’t say the same of Zandvoort and Spa, the last normal tracks we’ve been to. So yeah, good positive progress.”
Sainz expects different challenge in main race
But although Ferrari looks to have the fastest car in race trim based on the Sprint, Sainz has cautioned that there are no guarantees that will translate to the main race.
“The race is going to be very long,” he acknowledged. “We’re going to top up the fuel.
“So what we might have seen in the last stint of the race might not be the same as the hundred and something kilos that we put on the car going into Sunday.
“But one good thing is that we had a good reference from the Sprint.
“Obviously, these guys haven’t stood still and they would have improved that front graining that a lot of people were struggling with in the Sprint.
“And I think the field is going to be very close tomorrow and it should be an exciting race between a few cars.”
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