« Track position is key » – Sainz analyses second place in Austin

Carlos Sainz contributed to a historic weekend for Ferrari by finishing second in the United States Grand Prix, completing a one-two with his teammate Charles Leclerc. This performance marks the first one-two for the Scuderia in the United States in 18 years.

The Spaniard’s race got off to a hectic start, taking advantage of the battle between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the first corner to gain positions. A brief moment of concern occurred on the ninth lap when Sainz radioed in about power issues and a smell of fuel. “No power coming out of the corners” and “It smells like gasoline,” he reported.

Fortunately, these concerns were quickly resolved, allowing the Spaniard to maintain a solid pace throughout the race. The Spanish driver excelled in the management of his tires, demonstrating a significant improvement from Ferrari in this area. “First of all, congratulations to the whole team and to Charles for this incredible result,” Sainz said after the race. “This result puts us exactly where we want to be in the fight for the constructors’ championship, so I am extremely happy for everyone at Ferrari right now.”

Reflecting on his race, the future Williams driver explained, ” I knew a lot would be at stake at the start. I knew Lando and Max would fight hard until turn 1, and unfortunately, I had the worst of the situation and I couldn’t take the lead, even though the pace afterwards was really good and I was fast all weekend. Track position is key, and I had to settle for P2, which is still a good race.”

The Spaniard also expressed enthusiasm about Ferrari’s progress in tire management: “This is definitely the strength of the car this year, the way we can extend the stints and the low degradation we have, it’s something I really appreciate. It’s something that has made me enjoy the races much more this year than last year, because we spent all the races defending and losing positions. This year, it seems that we can just switch to attack mode, without thinking too much about the tires and just push and overtake, which is fun,” he said.

On the other hand, he quickly realized that he would not be able to compete for the win: « I knew that if I didn’t get to second place in the first three laps, it would be almost impossible to win. We have a very close race pace with Charles. So afterwards, I knew it wouldn’t be possible anymore.

Ferrari has made an excellent operation in the constructors’ championship thanks to this performance of Sainz and his teammate, Charles Leclerc. The Scuderia is now only 8 points behind the reigning champion team, Red Bull, and 48 points behind McLaren.