Put aside, at least publicly, the controversy with Leclerc, Carlos Sainz has spoken again ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix.
Formula 1 is heading to Qatar. After the Las Vegas weekend, which handed the drivers’ title to Max Verstappen, the Circus is getting ready to arrive in Losail for the penultimate race of the season. The constructors’ championship is still up for grabs, with McLaren holding only a 24-point lead over Ferrari, who gained 12 points in the recently concluded race in the USA.
Expectations were high for the American race, with Ferrari hoping to close the gap to the Woking team. Controversies between Leclerc and Sainz were not lacking, with the Spaniard being accused by the Monegasque of not following team orders. However, the focus now is on moving forward, and the former Renault driver has done just that.
Here are his words ahead of the Qatar race: “We need to try to maximize everything we have. I think we’ve done a good job in the last few weekends. I think today we got the most with P3 in the race, and yesterday the best was P2 in qualifying. In Qatar, the best we might achieve could be P5 or P6 because with this car, on a track like that, I expect McLaren and Mercedes to be very strong.”
The Spaniard therefore anticipates a challenging weekend for Ferrari, with Red Bull and Mercedes ready to make an impact, in addition to McLaren, which seems clearly favored. These are Sainz’s comments: “Probably Red Bulls will be fast too, as they were strong in qualifying in Austin. So yes, I think it will be a very challenging weekend for us. That’s why today it was important for us to get the maximum points available, and in a way, we did that with the pace we had.”
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari
