For Sainz, tire management is the key to scoring points in China
Carlos Sainz said he wasn't comfortable with his Ferrari during sprint qualifying.
The Ferraris struggled to warm up their tires in the rain. Carlos Sainz qualified fifth and his teammate Charles Leclerc seventh during Friday’s sprint qualifying.
« With the intermediate tires, we waited a long time at the pit exit, they cooled down, and then Charles and I struggled a lot to warm up the tires on this out lap. I am lucky not to have experienced the same sliding as Charles », explains the Spaniard to Autosport’s microphone.
Charles Leclerc went off track when it started raining, damaging his steering box. Sainz thinks it could easily have happened to him too.
We couldn’t do a good lap in Q3, but I think I saved the day with this fifth place. It’s a very difficult circuit to master.
With limited practice time, Sainz said that he hadn’t been able to set up his SF24 to his liking in dry conditions either. This could have an impact on tomorrow’s Sprint race.
Survive with what we have
The sprint race is in the morning, then the Parc Fermé opens, and we can change the car. I would like to be able to make some adjustments to the car after the sprint race, because I don’t feel comfortable. I have some ideas to improve the single-seater for qualifying. In the sprint race, we will have to survive with what we have and fight from fifth place.
The team manager Fred Vasseur hopes that the team’s gamble on tires during the free practice sessions will pay off during the sprint race.
« We were the only ones to have left an extra set of medium and hard tires this morning. We have the advantage of still having a new set of medium tires for tomorrow, while our rivals will have to use a set of worn medium tires. This means that we will have a wider choice in terms of tires for tomorrow.
He explains on Sky Sports Italy that the choice of tires will be crucial for the rest of the weekend. Like everyone else, we are a bit in the dark. It is not an easy choice, we have only done a few laps this morning. We will have to choose the compound carefully tonight, as it can be a starting point for Sunday.
