Sainz can't believe Ferrari's performance as he warns Red Bull and McLaren
F1 News
Carlos Sainz is "surprised" by how well Ferrari performed during the sprint race in Austin. The Spanish driver is now optimistic for the rest of the United States Grand Prix weekend after previously expecting the car to struggle with the long combined corners.
Sainz started the sprint race in fifth place. He immediately engaged in a battle with his teammate Charles Leclerc before eventually moving ahead. It looked likely he would finish third, but he capitalised on the lockup from Lando Norris to take second. It meant Sainz moved up three places and scored seven points.
Why Sainz was left surprised after the sprint race
Ferrari has introduced some upgrades this weekend and they seem to be competitive. "Now it's all about trying to optimise this until the end of the year. It's a package that we’ve seen can allow us to fight for some race wins, very track dependent in our car," Sainz said after his P2 in the sprint.
"But honestly, this weekend, I'm a bit surprised that we are so competitive. I thought it was more a Monza, Singapore and Baku special that we were relatively competitive. But this is much more of a normal track with long combined corners. That's normally where we tend to struggle," Sainz added.
The F1 drivers will return to the track later on Saturday for qualifying. Sainz expects his rivals to close in during the session but predicts he will get the advantage back on Sunday. "I think in qualifying, we will see the two Mercedes, potentially Max [Verstappen] and Lando [Norris] around us or ahead or behind within a tenth. Then in the race, it seems like we tend to up with pace and that's where we need to maximise it," Sainz concluded.