After an exciting performance in the F1 Sprint that saw Carlos Sainz taking the second spot in the last lap from Lando Norris, the Spaniard confirmed the great pace Ferrari has brought to Austin, as the 30-year-old driver from Madrid scored the third fastest lap time of Saturday evening, 0.322s slower than Norris’ pole lap.
Sainz debriefed qualifying afterwards, expressing Ferrari’s tyre degradation should give the Scuderia “options” to fight for the win, in what he described will be a “super close race between three cars”.
“That was the goal, to take a step forward in Qualifying compared to yesterday when we were fifth. Today we are third, so it’s a good step in the right direction,” Sainz stated.
“I’ve always kept that in mind because it’s something we’ve struggled with recently in our team—getting the tyres into the right window for qualifying—. We always seem to be fast in the race, but in qualifying, we have some ups and downs.
“And that was my main focus throughout qualifying. It looks like we did well, especially on the last lap before the yellow flag, because we found a lot of time in the first two sectors.
“Tomorrow we should be in the fight for the win. I hope we have a clean start, and with the two drivers ahead [Lando Norris and Max Verstappen], it’ll be fun.”
The 3-time race winner expressed his disappointment at not being able to properly finish his second attempt at a flying lap in Q3, after a crash involving George Russell’s Mercedes triggered a yellow flag in the third sector of the track.
“I’m a bit disappointed with the last lap because I was three-tenths up going into Turn 16, with two corners remaining, but it’s easy to say that now. Still, I made good progress.”
Sainz concluded optimistically assuring Ferrari has a big chance of fighting for the win on Sunday at Austin.
“Of course there are options, we’re not going to fool ourselves,’ the Spaniard said.
“The only thing is our rivals will have learned where they might not have been as strong today and where Ferrari was very strong, which was in the degradation of the front tyre.
“In the slow corners, especially, we were much faster than McLaren and Red Bull.
“But yes, they’ve learned, and that’s why they beat us in qualifying. It’s clear they’ve improved there too, so tomorrow it will be a super close race between three cars, I think.
“Let’s go for it.”
