Carlos Sainz has returned to the path of good results and, although he loses even more advantage with his direct rivals, at least he is reunited with the podium in a race that was more complicated than it should have been.
Although Carlos Sainz had little hope of fighting for victory in the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix, already at the exit the idea vanished. And it is that the Spanish pilot lost the position with Max Verstappen, who also left a few seconds ahead with Charles Leclerc.
From that moment on, the objective was clear: we had to maintain third position against Sergio Pérez, who I had about 10 km/h more on the straights. And the truth is that the Ferrari driver did it perfectly despite the difficulties.
“It has not been easy at all, it has been a hard race with the tires, with the heat”
The first in the form of neck pain after the strong accident on Friday. Nothing serious, but it certainly didn’t help in such a physical, even and hot race. But, when it seemed that Carlos Sainz already had third place assured, came the accident between Sebastian Vettel and Pierre Gaslywhich caused the safety car to leave.
Then, the 7 seconds that the Spanish driver had with the Mexican from Red Bull (despite having suffered a bad stop of more than 5 seconds, but thanks to a temporary loss of power from Pérez’s engine), vanished. And not only that, but also his opponent had stopped in the pits without losing position to place new medium tires.
Meanwhile, Ferrari decided to keep its drivers on track with used hardbacks despite the fact that the leader, Max Verstappen, had not pitted. That left both, especially Sainz, at the mercy of Pérez with much faster and newer tyres.
Carlos Sainz defends himself perfectly
When the safety car disappeared and the race was restarted, Carlos Sainz went to work on his defense with used hard tires. At least the Ferrari helped by warming up the tires better than those of its opponent.
But when DRS came into play, overtaking seemed inevitable. However, Sergio Pérez rushed in and he launched from too far into turn 1, overbraking and seeing how Sainz recovered the position and also gained more ground.
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That was the end of everything, because Pérez’s midfielders lost their sweet moment and Sainz did not fail, crossing the finish line in third position and getting the third podium in five races and after two consecutive withdrawals.
“I feel better after the accident on Friday, I had some pain in my neck during the race, fight with it and manage it”, explained Carlos Sainz at the end of the race. «Especially at the end, with Checo (Pérez) and his average tire, it was difficult to keep him behind, but I managed to stay on the podium, which is a decent result».
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«It has not been easy at all, it has been a hard race with the tires, with the heat. The car was moving, sliding, and in the end we got what we wanted, which is an acceptable third place. Now we can go up,” said Carlos Sainz. “I want more, but it’s not bad.”
Now, Carlos Sainz focuses on the Spanish Grand Prixwhere he possibly wants to get his first victory in Formula 1. Will he achieve it?
Photos: Scuderia Ferrari