Sainz: “McLaren is now the team to beat and the rest of us have problems”

Carlos Sainz make a good comeback to Zandvoortin it F1 Dutch GPends on the 5th after starting on the 10th. He did it at the wheel of a Ferrari that was surprised by its excellent racing speed, the complete opposite of what was shown the day before in one lap.

Carlos Sainzwhen he spoke to the Spanish press present at the circuit, this massive change in the car’s performance was not explained in a weekend where Ferrari was not expected to perform well on Sunday.

For Carlos, the only certainty this year is the potential of the current dominant force: McLaren.

CAREER ANALYSIS

“Yes, it was a good race, great battle. The truth is, it went better than we all expected. , as you saw, we were one second away from the pole with a car that was not working well and suddenly, in the race we got back there from the first laps, the car felt better than yesterday and it helped us make a good comeback, pass ‘Checo’ on the track and we would also have passed George if he hadn’t stopped That’s why we’re so fast.”

UNPREDICTABLE FERRARI: BAD IN CLASSIFICATION AND VERY FAST IN THE RACE

“I don’t think any team fully understands it. The only one who understands what they are doing is McLaren, who now clearly seem to be the team to beat and the ones who will always be there, and they finished twenty seconds ahead of Max . and Charles. And above all Lando I think he had a very solid weekend because Piastri was fourth behind Leclerc.”

“McLaren seems to be the team to beat and the rest of us are having problems, even us in qualifying, with some evolution, Red Bull doesn’t seem to have improved much during the season, Mercedes has had very good races and others don’t. Aston Martin started the season well, then they stop, and now they seem to be doing better than last year, but very fast in the race compared to last year. , I’m definitely happier this year in the race and now we have to improve a bit in qualifying and of course bring more downforce to the car because McLaren is leaving.”.

THROUGH ZANDVOORT

“It took me more or less two or three laps to work on it. It was very difficult to follow the car in front in the second sector. Then, I was very strong in the last sector, the chicane and the last corner. , and that allowed me to Even though like no, then overtaking The important thing is to cool down the tires after overtaking and attack the next car again .At the end of the race, he ran very fast again and he overtook Piastri and the two cars in front of him, which the pace is a bit faster than theirs.

IS THERE A WORLD CUP? CAN YOU CUT 70 POINTS OFF ALL OF VERSTAPPEN?

“Obviously if Max continues in second or third place, I think it’s worth it, because at some point McLaren will fail too. The truth is also true that if Max starts to fail, it can be complicated for him. And we all know, as has been shown many times, that once someone is put under pressure, everything starts to fail a year ago, and now that McLaren has arrived, they are gone shows that you have to be there, put everything under pressure, and then all the teams and drivers are always lost somewhere.

THEY CHANGED NOTHING ABOUT THE CAR

“We didn’t do anything. It was the same car in qualifying. But it was a car that for some reason we didn’t quite understand. We were only one second away from pole, then in the race we were two, three tenths. , four behind McLaren : We’ve gained more than half a second in relative terms… and as well as Red Bull and Mercedes, we’re half a second behind and now, a couple of tenths in the race explain that, unless ?”Let’s do a good analysis and find out what it really is, but that takes time and we may never know.”

MONZA, OF COURSE GOOD FOR FERRARI

“Wouldn’t the podium be so strange? No. That’s why we have to be optimistic. Yesterday perhaps we were a little pessimistic and negative (after qualifying). What is clear is that we have to evaluate the weekend after Sunday. Since we did so many interviews, you asked us for a weekend review after the qualy and obviously in the heat we were all depressed thinking it was the end of the year, a second from the pole . Now, it looks like Ferrari is incredible in the race and we will be able to win at Monza either one or the other The certainty is that McLaren is higher “The other teams, we have to see how we can close the gap to McLaren and see if we can fight for the podium at Monza.”

IS FERRARI ALWAYS DIFFICULT AT MONZA?

“The engine thing is a legend. We never put more engine. What happens is that Ferrari tends to make a more efficient car for Monza, which we are good at anyway. That seems to make the engine go more. But that is something with the special Monza wings that they have And then, if any improvements come, which I hope they will, it still gives us a little step forward, but to be honest, the improvements we bring are small.