Carlos Sainz has disclosed that increased attention to out-lap preparation in the recent Formula 1 break inspired his run to pole position at the Mexico City Grand Prix.
Sainz dominated proceedings in Q3 at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez to claim his first pole of 2024 with a lap that was two-tenths quicker than his nearest rival.
The Spaniard’s initial run in the last stage would have been good enough to take the top spot, but he improved on his second lap to lower the benchmark to 1:15.946s.
Asked how sweet it was to secure his sixth career pole position in F1, Sainz told media including Motorsport Week: “Yeah, very sweet.
“It”s not normal to have such two strong laps around Mexico.
“There’s a lot of sliding in the lap, very difficult to put a lap together. And actually my two laps of Q3 were almost both perfect.
“Very happy to be on pole and to confirm the good form from Austin. Austin already, that last lap of Q3 was coming good.
“So I had high hopes coming into Mexico, and yeah, we managed to keep it up.”
Sainz admitted that producing such a strong banker time enabled him to gamble more on his last attempt as he became the sole driver to break into the 1:15s barrier.
“There were two really good laps, and the fact that the first lap was so good, and so much clear of the field, allowed me to take even further risks in Q3,” he explained.
“I added a bit of front wing, just because I had nothing to lose, and see if by adding a bit more front end to the car, I would go even quicker.
“But yeah, that’s what happens when the first lap is so good.
“Also, the first lap of Q3, I didn’t take many risks with the turn to kerb, trying to stay away from the track limits.
“But in the second lap, I knew that the first might be enough for pole and I just tried to maximise the track limits there.
“It gave me, for free, a tenth, and then I kept for the rest of the lap.
“So, yeah, two very good laps, especially when you see the two, three guys I have behind me.”
Sainz explains tyre preparation gains
Ferrari has struggled to extract one-lap speed at times during this season with a car that is geared towards being more competitive in race trim than its predecessors.
But Sainz, who also out-qualified team-mate Charles Leclerc in the United States, has divulged how he utilised the autumn break to improve upon his tyre preparation.
“Yeah, tyre preparation has been a hot topic in Ferrari the last few races,” he acknowledged.
“Because we feel like in the race we’re always very strong. But we seem to lack something qualifying.
“This year’s car is very good on tyres, but I think that sometimes it means that in quali you cannot maybe extract the maximum out of the tyres in the first timed lap.
“I put a bit of focus on that during the break, the three-week break, and came into Austin and Mexico with a couple of things that seemed to pay off.”
Sainz confident of landing race win
Ferrari controlled the race in Austin a week ago as Leclerc headed a 1-2 finish, and Sainz is optimistic that he will have the pace to convert his pole position tomorrow.
However, the three-time F1 race winner is aware that he has a challenge on his hands to keep Max Verstappen and Lando Norris behind on the extended run to Turn 1.
Questioned on how confident he is about securing the victory, Sainz replied: “Yeah, relatively confident, because I know my race day should be good tomorrow.
“Probably the biggest difficult thing will be the run down into Turn 1, starting on pole with a slipstream.
“But I think you can still defend, you can still make it stick into Turn 1, starting on pole, and that will be my target tomorrow.”
READ MORE – Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz surges to F1 Mexico City GP pole position
