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Sainz turned frustration into motivation in Austria

09:30, 01 Jul 2019

byBobby Vincent

Carlos Sainz produced one of the performances of the day in Austria, as the Spanish driver climbed an incredible 11 places to finish in P8.

Sainz was given a grid penalty and had to start in 19th for taking a new power unit in Austria and the Spaniard revealed his frustration prior to the race, and how he turned that to motivation for a solid grid finish for McLaren.

"What a race! I'm really, really happy with how we recovered from a tough weekend, and from P19 on the starting grid," Sainz said. "Up until yesterday, I had this feeling of frustration due to the (power unit) penalty, but this morning I turned all that frustration into motivation for the race.

"I think we executed a very strong race today, with a long stint on the medium tyre and then pitting for the hard compound in the right moment. From that point onwards, it was overtake after overtake, and I made my way into the points. The only setback of the day was that my front wing got damaged 10 laps from the end when I was starting to attack (Pierre) Gasly.

"With the pace I had, I think I could've taken P7, but I really had to drive the car carefully to avoid any mistakes and finally managed to stay ahead of (Kimi) Raikkonen. Very happy for everyone in the team. Great race, great comeback and congrats for another double-points finish."