Sainz’s excellent 5th: he kept Hamilton with “broken” tires

Carlos Sainz had a good race. He was 5th and this result will not be reflected in his record, but Carlos will remember this race because of the difficulty of achieving a result in a car that suffered all weekend due to a lack of downforce and corner grip. While Charles Leclerc had to leave after a weekend to forget, the man from Madrid saved the tools for Ferrari with a sensational race and a 5th place in a car that ensured Sainz that sometimes it will not be tenth. This was said in front of the Spanish press present at the Zandvoort circuit, at the F1 Dutch GP, where Carlos wanted to highlight the complexity of his achievement, especially for keeping Lewis Hamilton behind in the last 7 laps with intermediate wheels they were destroyed. .

“Honestly, there are no podium options today. Once the race is stable and everyone makes their own rhythm under normal conditions, there is no rhythm, like the whole weekend. But in the end, a fifth place when we fought for the total. race against cars that were faster than us, we have to be satisfied because I think we got everything we had today”, said the man from Madrid.

“Honestly, when we took off the blankets and I saw the state of the intermediate tires for the last 7 laps, because they were the tires we used yesterday (Saturday) almost dry and we broke them, but this is the only intermediate I have available.. I knew I would have to spend those last 7 laps to defend myself against Hamilton. So, I was happy to stay at the front, because I think they were in a good state in the last Those 7 laps. bad. We saved tools on all sides, we fought at least once for a podium with a car that I think now didn’t even make the top 10 on several occasions, so we have to be satisfied. Congratulations to the team as well, because we did a great run in the race and I think we managed the most difficult weekend of the year.

“What was I thinking? Holding on, thinking lap by lap, protecting a bit in Turn 1 and Turn 12, where Hamilton was closing in. The truth is it was difficult mentally because I had zero grip on those intermediate tires. , but we saved it.”

“There was one lap where I thought: ‘Ui, it’s just going to happen next time'”, because it was so close. And then, with two laps to go I managed to open up a gap a bit because he might have made a mistake and that’s when I secured it.”

“The good thing is that Monza reminded me more of Spa and at Spa we were fast. We have to be optimistic. I think that in front of the Tifosi the car will be better. I also thought that Zandvoort was the worst finish week of the year in terms of pace and We have to be optimistic for Monzay to think that we will go faster”.

HIS FERRARI AND HIS LACK OF ZANDVOORT

“Everything is missing, except the speed in the straight, which we have because we are going with low aerodynamics. It is missing in the curve, you have seen what Hamilton caught me in turn 1 braking and turning. And in turn 10 it’s very clear how I started to get stuck. These are corners where we lost two tenths per lap this weekend. We know the reason, we see it in the data, but it’s not something we can change. But the finish in fifth and fighting for the podium as we go, you really have to be happy.”

ONE OF HIS BEST CAREERS THIS YEAR

“It was one of my best races this season. In those conditions (with a dry lane) is where you can make a difference as a driver, try to experiment and I go fast there, but when everything is dry or all wet. , we were taking half a second per lap. Even with Alpine at times. It shows there wasn’t much else today.”