Carlos Sainz has had a terrible weekend so far in Abu Dhabi. The only non-Red Bull winner this season crashed yesterday during the second practise, and today was pipped at the last second in Q1, resulting in a 15th place on the grid for tomorrow’s race.
“Clearly the pace all weekend hasn’t been the strongest and we need a perfect Q1 and Q2 given how tight the field is. And yeah, we had a very scrappy Q1,” Sainz explained. “We went out very late into the last one. We had a problem in the front wing, send us the last car out and once I opened my last lap I found myself in a lot of traffic in sector one and two and lost a couple of tenths there. That probably cost me the the spot in Q2.”
According to the Ferrari driver there were no issues as a result from Friday’s crash.
“No, no, nothing. Nothing big. [The corner] was an easy flat. Well, it hasn’t even been a corner all hese years, turn 3, but for some reason yesterday I bottomed out and the car gave me a huge snap.
“So it didn’t make me lose any confidence or anything because it’s not even a corner for us in quali.
“Nothing to to worry about on that front. Just it’s been a very tight weekend with the field very close together. Everyone needed a perfect execution in Q1 and Q2. We didn’t have it, clearly, in Q1.”
The bump that caused the crash was removed overnight, making the turn feel much better, Sainz admitted.
“Yeah, it felt better. A lot better. There was basically almost no bump today.”
The crash prevented Sainz from having much running during FP2, in which the track conditions are most comparable to the conditions faced in qualifying and the race, but the Spaniard didn’t think it mattered too much today.
“Honestly, I wasn’t worried about that, and not like anyone took a lot of running yesterday. It’s just that for some reason this this weekend, on the soft tyre especially, it’s been difficult to put laps together and we need perfect laps in Q1 and Q2 as I said.
“And we clearly didn’t get that.”
For tomorrow’s race Sainz’s hopes are on a better performance on the medium or hard tyres to bring the Ferrari forward, as the points are much needed in the battle for second in the constructors’ championship.
“I’m hoping it will be better. I feel like we we for some reason this weekend, we struggle on the soft tyre, but the long runs have haven’t looked too bad.
“So we just know what we need to do tomorrow, which is a good recovery and see if we can get back in the points and score points and see where Merc end up.
“We need a very strong day tomorrow if we want any sort of points.”
Impeding seemed to be the issue on track, as it has been many times over the last few years on the Yas Marina circuit. And while there were no cases of impeding under investigation in Q1, Sainz revealed there are still some tricks the drivers can exploit to hinder their opponents.
“So between us drivers we know that if you do have corner two seconds in front of another car, one second or two seconds in front, you’re going to make him lose a tenth or two in that corner.
“And when it’s tight in Q1 or Q2, I see people giving a bit of dirty air on purpose in some corners to maybe make the other lose some time in corners,” he explains.
“Which we don’t consider impeding because it’s not like you need to lift.
“But you know you’re giving him dirty air and you know you’re giving him a bad run in that corner. So yeah, by going out last, I made everything, basically all sector one and two, very close to all the cars in front. And I found myself losing tenths and tenths.”
But the two-time Grand Prix winner didn’t want to use these little tricks as an excuse for his poor result.
“I think everyone’s doing it. I ‘s just that if you put yourself in a bad track position, you’re going to suffer from that more.”
Daniel Ricciardo however wasn’t too impressed by Sainz’s remarks, pointing to the Ferrari driver as one of the main offenders of this kind of shenanigans.
“I don’t know why he does it, but he is always the culprit. I don’t know why, he hasn’t upset me this weekend, but I don’t know if he’s just messing with us, but he definitely seems to be the one that everyone likes to talk about in terms of impeding and whatever,” the AlphaTauri driver rebutted the claims by Sainz.
“I’m going to speak to him. I know he upsets some people in practice and stuff, he’s normally the ‘upsetter’ when he gets in the way.
“So I’m going to tell him to maybe not press his left foot too much into turn one tomorrow and upset some people and help me out.”
