Carlos Sainz Jnr admitted he lacked confidence during the Singapore Grand Prix and was unhappy with his pace.
The Ferrari driver finished third in yesterday’s race but fell behind leaders Sergio Perez and Charles Leclerc after the start. Before the second Safety Car period, Sainz was over 25 seconds behind Perez at the front of the field.The race was held on a wet but drying track and Sainz admitted he didn’t have the pace to keep his rivals in sight.
“It was unfortunately quite lonely for me because I just didn’t have the pace,” he said. “Today on the intermediate tyre I lost a lot on the road to Charles and Checo. I couldn’t keep up with them.
“I was struggling quite a lot on these tyres. I think I lost quite a bit the front and I was having a lot of moments, a lot of front locks, and every moment here costs you confidence and costs you the ability to recover that pace.”
Sainz’s pace improved towards the end of the race as the track dried out. “At one point I had to settle a bit and recover that confidence because I couldn’t keep up,” he explained.
“Once the confidence recovered in the slick, towards the last 10-15 laps, I managed to be quick but it was just way too late.”
He admitted he “cannot be happy” with his performance. “I wish I could have put some pressure together with Charles and Checo and we could have been both up there to play a bit with Checo. But today I simply didn’t have the pace and it’s something that I need to look at.
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“That’s why I’m not happy at all, because it’s normally the conditions where I am quite quick and normally execute good races. At some point I had to settle a bit because it was not worth taking any risks because I was P3 with 10 seconds behind and 10 seconds in front and at that point you have to bring also the P3 for the team instead of pushing a bit too much and making a mistake.
“So it’s something to look at but of course I am not happy and I will look at this race with good analysis and come back stronger in Suzuka.”
However Sainz said he was pleased to have picked up a place from Lewis Hamilton when the race began. “It was a good start, I think as good as it gets in the wet to be honest.
“I felt like me and Checo pulled away together and I could get Lewis and then he obviously tried to get me around the outside, but you’re not going to get me around the outside so easily because it’s a bit my corner at that point.
“[I’m] glad that we didn’t have any issues on the car, or at least it didn’t feel like it, and we could keep the position and then it was all about managing the gap to him because it was clear for me that in order to catch the guys in front I had to take too many risks.”
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Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
3rd October 2022, 17:19
Carlos, just be the best you can be: A middling #2 driver bringing a budget to the team.
Just look at Checo, he’s (occasionally) doing really well in that role!
Adam (@rocketpanda)
3rd October 2022, 17:47
Glad he wasn’t happy because his performance was awful. He was woefully slow in all conditions.
elchinero (@elchinero)
3rd October 2022, 20:10
So slow that Hamilton complained on-line. 3rd place vs. 9th …
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
4th October 2022, 0:26
This is taking things out of context, hamilton made a mistake, but like he said on radio “this guy is so slow, losing so much time” or something like that, it’s not a good look for sainz, so also glad he wasn’t happy about his performance.
F1Genova (@f1genova)
3rd October 2022, 18:54
these are interesting quotes as he was the first to state that they were not far off from slicks when everyone was saying its too wet
Captain Pie (@captainpie)
3rd October 2022, 19:51
Struggling to remember Sainz being particularly outstanding in wet / changeable conditions…
MacLeod (@macleod)
4th October 2022, 8:43
In his earlier days he was good in the wet (Not like Lewis/Max) but much beter then the rest.
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
4th October 2022, 9:09
@captainpie It doesn’t matter. Whenever it rains, the commentators are gonna mention how good Sainz is in slippery conditions, because of that one time in Portimao when he took the lead in the opening laps on a damp track when he had soft tyres while others had mediums.
Edvaldo
4th October 2022, 13:10
Sainz was slow in all but a couple of races this season.
The only races he looked like he had the pace were the ones he started from the back. Even the races he won or came close were only possible because of Safety Cars.
Based on pace alone, he not only would be winless, he wouldnt even be a contender for wins on an obvious race winning car.
His 2nd season at Ferrari is a major disappointment.
James
5th October 2022, 18:04
He was driving with a completely dry set up btw, maybe that’s the reason why it looked so awful. The worst race from him this season.