Carlos Sainz Jnr, McLaren, Bahrain International Circuit, 2020

Sainz: “I don’t know how Racing Point haven’t sealed third in the championship yet”

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr is amazed McLaren are still in contention with Racing Point for third place in the championship.

What they say

With one race remaining, McLaren are 10 points behind Racing Point, who are third in the standings.

Even with a fresher tyre, I couldn’t keep up, nearly, with a Racing Point, which exposes a bit our limitations right now.

Honestly, I don’t know how the Racing Points haven’t sealed that third place in the championship yet with the car they have. But we’re doing everything we can to stay in the fight.

They’ve done a massive step forward [in Sakhir] and I would like to congratulate Checo because I think he deserves that win. He deserves to be in the sport next year. I hope he gets a seat.

From our side, keep pushing, but at the same time, a car that is two or three tenths a lap quicker in this short track should always finish ahead.

Quotes: Dieter Rencken

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Comment of the day

With Daniil Kvyat’s hopes of remaining in F1 diminishing, Phil is concerned about the number of quality drivers who will be left without seats next year:

It really is a shame that there are not more seats available in F1. There are probably half a dozen drivers who have made a strong enough case for a place on the grid based on past performance but there is just no space for them.

The sport is likely to lose three decent drivers from this year’s line-up including yesterday’s race winner.
Phil Norman (@phil-f1-21)

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21 comments on “Sainz: “I don’t know how Racing Point haven’t sealed third in the championship yet””

  1. Bitter that is how Sainz sounds.

    1. @peartree He’s right though, RP have had the third fastest car since the start of the season. Somehow they just haven’t been able to get the maximum out of it consistently for most of the season.

      1. @f1osaurus yes and I agree but that is not what he is trying to say and it is not the first thing he says. Sainz jr like his father always turns the spotlight on himself.

      2. And loosing a important part of the points by FIA actions and two drivers for several races does not ring a bell it seems.
        Strange..

  2. Probably would be sealed up if stroll wasn’t 50 points behind his teammate

    1. you’d think that the likely Podium finish Stroll could have had in Mugello, and the one last weekend in Bahrain would have easily done the trick @ppzzus. And when Hulk did not even get to start the race due to tech issues, that also cost the team a haul of points (not to mention having to put in a sub in the first place for Perez)

    2. @ppzzus @bascb
      RP lost a lot of points for different things such as unreliability, bad luck, Stroll’s inconsistency to an extent, other stuff out of the drivers and or team’s control, etc., but don’t forget, also the 15 constructor points from Austria 2 that were (somewhat unfairly) taken away.

      1. Mclaren had to pay 100 millions and was expelled from WCC for data that never used. You find 15 points for copying half a car (we all know how they copied it) unfairly?

        1. More than half the car #dio

  3. OK, I certainly understand losing Perez would suck, but who are the other two referenced – Grosjean and Magnussen? I’d much rather see some new talent than watch either of those two warming seats anymore.

    Kvyat going away wouldn’t break my heart either.

    Wish it was a bigger rookie bunch coming in – Mick won F2, deserves it. Tsunoda has a good chance at Kvyat’s seat. Ilott not getting a shot is a shame. Mazepin will be another Stroll/Latifi seatwarmer unfortunately.

    (And yes, counterpoint to my argument is Alonso, though that should be entertaining one way or the other!)

    1. Hulkenberg is probably who he’s referring to, or ocon who had to sit a year out.

    2. I get the impression they also mean Kvyat being dropped @nanotech. And indeed Hulk, and now possibly Perez.

    3. @nanotech @ppzzus @bascb
      The ones from the current grid being left out in the cold are going to be Grosjean, Magnussen, Kvyat, and either Perez or Albon. Out of these, the only one that doesn’t deserve to end up in this group is Perez.

      1. Well @jerejj is more or less correct. But it is open to our individual interpretation of a decent driver. I was actually thinking of Kvyat who the article is written about, either Albon or Perez and one of Magnussen/Grosjean.

        In my opinion they all have proved that they are good enough to have a seat in F1. Their actual performance in statistical terms depends on what they have been driving of course. They are all pretty decent drivers though who might keep their status as an F1 driver if there were more teams.

  4. Response to COTD: We need more teams in F1, or have three cars per team or more. However, we can’t have new teams joining and then being 4-7 seconds off the pace.

    1. @krichelle Indeed. Having more teams wouldn’t be worth it if they were essentially moving chicanes, like 2010-2012.

  5. Sainz has a point (ha), the RP team were massively underperforming in the first five races or so. Perez only got into his groove a race or two after returning from his COVID break

    1. The answer to his question on why Racing point haven’t sealed third is quite obvious though. Lance Stroll.

  6. Probably would have sealed it without strategy blunders on Perez’s side and Strolls poor luck mid season. Plus of course the 15 points taken off.

  7. I seriously doubt that Sky has a chance to get any rebate from Liberty. First of all, that deal still builds on what they signed with Bernie. And off course, with 17 races in the season, Liberty fulfilled their side of the deal. On top of that, we had quite a treat for a more than usual amount of those races as well, the races we’ve had after the championship was settled in reality have all been very good for ratings I would think.

    Also, Liberty can point out to Sky that with the Covid-19 restrictions, they actually got far more exclusive access to the pitlane, since only the TV crews were allowed to get to talk with teams and drivers while all written media now had to settle for posting questions in a video format that is then open for everyone to use. That is a huge advantage for breaking stories. Which surely greatly added to the package.

  8. Kvyat has had a lot of poor performances this year, but lately been quite Ok, and his demeanor outside the car seems improved as well. Maybe the shock of the RB drop has waned and he’s now fully accepted it, or maybe it’s just relief of no more F1.

    Trouble is that replacing him will just be for another hopeful just like Kvyat was, and why not keep a fully trained one. Something seems to be working at the team so why change anything.

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