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Sainz starts from P5: "Best lap I've done all year!"

16:09, 28 Sep 2019

byNicolás Quarles van Ufford

After putting in a stellar lap for sixth place, McLaren driver Carlos Sainz Jr thinks his final lap in Q3 was the best lap he's done all year, as he'll start from P5 given Max Verstappen's grid penalty.

In typical fashion, the midfield was extremely close during qualifying. At the end of Q3, under a tenth of a second separated Sainz in P6 and his teammate Lando Norris in P8, with Nico Hülkenberg wedged between the two papaya orange cars in P7.

They'll all move up a place as well, with fourth-placed Verstappen dropping to ninth following a grid penalty, meaning Sainz will start the race in fifth.

The Spaniard has been on the losing end of the qualifying battle between himself and Norris, but has won this round following his mega lap.

"From yesterday to today we've made a big step, but we weren't expecting to beat Renault and Haas," the 25-year-old Sainz told Movistar.

"That lap was special, probably the best one I've done all year given how close everything is. Good job by the entire team, it was a massive effort after how bad we were yesterday."

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Sainz wasn't as optimistic, as his MCL34's race pace during Free Practice gave him no indication of a good result once the lights go out in Sochi.

"It's a good opportunity to get points, although the race pace was horrible on Friday. I hope that has changed too because if not, we'll suffer and we'll have to look in the rearview mirrors. Let's hope it has changed."