Ferrari’s wall sighed with relief along with Carlos Sainz once his driver’s direct rivals failed to unseat him with the soft tire, thus managing to advance to Q3 with resources, something only within the reach of the fastest.
Compete in a circuit where Formula 1 has never been in its more than 70 years of history It can be quite a challenge for the pilots, a challenge to which each of the 20 members of the grid has tried to adapt in the best possible way with the weapons they had at their disposal respectively.
After filming in Losail for the first time on Friday, Carlos Sainz was upset, assuring that Ferrari were not where they would like in Qatar, with many variables and details to be polished before the moment of truth arrived and having to face to the qualifying session. Lower 1.2 seconds his best time of the weekend so far, which helped him to take 7th position on the starting grid, did not seem to cheer him up either, even despite making it to Q3 on medium tires.
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«It was very tense, because the truth … I’m still not sure that the medium is the best tire to start the race», Confessed # 55 as soon as he got off his SF21. What clearly aimed to be the winning strategy, since it was only available to the leading men, is not 100% for Ferrari, since the Italian car suffers from additional wear of the tires that puts them against The sword and the wall.
«I was practically 50/50. Being like this, trying to do a good lap again with the average, when the one I had already done was very very good … I took a risk for Q3, because of the risk of not passing. We have played it; It has gone wrong at the beginning because I have not managed to lower the time of the average, and well at the end because the others must have made a mistake with the soft and we have managed to pass, “added Sainz.
Defensive race
Aware that his teammate couldn’t even get past the 13th position, thus falling into Q2 after confessing to the radio team that “I have no idea where those 9 tenths are”, Sainz continued taking stock of an apparently positive weekend which, on the other hand, is not so positive for him. for now.
«Already in Q3 I did a good lap, the 1: 21.8 that I could not go down, but I’ve been going very fast the whole qualy. We went out with the stocking, surrounded by soft ones. It will be complicated the first few laps, and then the doubt is a stop or two, “analyzed the Madrilenian talking about his career options.
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“Honestly, we have come out with the average just in case: we have a front tire wear problem on this circuit, as you saw it in Paul Ricard and in other circuits. There we saw that with the soft we are not going anywhere, so if we wanted to have a minimal option it was with the medium. I think the others also make a stop with the soft, so it is not that we have much advantage, “he concluded.