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Carlos Sainz says his third-place result at qualifying for the Styrian Grand Prix feels “amazing” following a session in difficult conditions.
All three qualifying periods were held in wet conditions, however Sainz battled his McLaren to the second row of the grid while teammate Lando Norris was sixth.
The strong result comes just under a week after the Woking-base squad scored a third-place result at the Red Bull Ring, courtesy of Norris.
Sainz's starting position for tomorrow's race is his best ever, and says the accomplished feeling is boosted due to the difficult weather conditions throughout the day.
“I'm very happy to come back, back-to-back weekends and [to] put it in P3 for the first time in my career on the second row,” the Spaniard said. “It feels amazing especially because this qualifying was probably one of the toughest I have done as a Formula 1 driver.
“To put together in the last lap a really good lap, it was so much aquaplaning. It was crazy on the straights, just keeping your foot down and sliding on the straights.
“It was something I enjoyed, I was talking to Max and Lewis and they were also quite excited about it.”
Although Sainz is confident about McLaren's race pace, the soon-to-be Ferrari driver is wary of Alexander Albon and Valtteri Bottas behind him during the opening laps.
“The car on race trim has been better than we thought after Barcelona. We are kind of confident going into tomorrow.
“But at the same time again we saw the race pace on Friday from the Ferraris, from the Racing Points. I don't know where they are starting, far back is good. But I'm sure I'm going to have Alex and Valtteri behind, so it's going to be a tough first few laps.
“But then hopefully I can settle into my own pace.”
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Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
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Replies (4)
Login to replymcbhargav
Posts: 1,332
Ricciardo must be proud of his choice for 2021 looking at that Mclaren.
Snooky
Posts: 121
As much as I’d love this to be their genuine position, need to be cautious and remember it’s only the second race and it’s at the same circuit, let’s see what it’s like when it gets to Monza or spa. Hopefully just as good!
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
And it's on a not-very-Ferrari-friendly circuit at that. I do think they've been caught napping, but I don't think they are quite this bad.
Kean
Posts: 692
Awesome job by Sainz