Hispanic Trio Secure Top Spots on Grid in Miami Grand Prix

Nice Latin Saturday in Miami: Pérez, Alonso and Sainz occupy the first three places on the grid in one of the grand prix with the largest Hispanic component on the calendar. “I am very happy because I like these guys very much, we get along well. It may not mean much to us now, but in a few years we will remember this day. And I wish we could share the podium together. The Hispanic community can fight”, said Checo, from the pole. And Fernando broke the protocol and responded in Spanish at the formal FIA press conference: “For all Spanish-speaking people it is a great day to have a Mexican and two Spaniards ahead in a qualifying for the first time in history. We are the second most spoken language on the planet, many millions of people speak in Spanish and we deserve to respond in Spanish.” Carlos closed the speech: “I am together with two talents but also very good people.”

Now to think about the race. The Asturian’s first objective will be to lead and the second, to consolidate a place on the podium: “I don’t think winning is the objective, especially given how the weekend went. Even the podium is difficult. But we will do our race, we didn’t expect to be here and every lap in these conditions is a gift. I will try to pass Checo on the first lap because I would love to lead the race Even if it was for a few laps. Our day is Sunday, the car takes good care of the tires and we have a great race pace, when we suffer more on Saturdays. But we have strong opposition behind us because Ferrari was very strong in Baku and they have improvements to the car; and Max will arrive at some point in the race.”

Fernando gives credit to the car, pending improvements, in a reply to AS: “I have been in the top-5 in all qualifying except Baku. It is the objective for today, although in free practice there was concern that we were not so competitive. We took risks in Q1 and it went wrong for Lance (Stroll). But our objective is to have a simple weekend, without crazy things, and drive the car that deserves it, which is normally more competitive on Sundays. I’m still learning about the car, I think today was a good day, but Max didn’t complete his lap and Charles had problems. We did the work in Q3 and that’s what they pay us for.”

“I’m going to attack”

As for Sainz, the man from Madrid confirms to this medium that he will go after Fernando at the start, and for whomever it takes: “The plan at the start is always to attack, that’s what the starts are for, to gain as many positions as possible. Aston and Fernando are faster than us in the race because they take better care of the tires, or whatever it is that we are still trying to understand and improve on our car. We will see how the overtaking is, but in the end we will finish the race where we deserve and it will be a good learning point”.

In seven days, Carlos has exchanged one of his worst weekends ever in F1 for a top-3 under the stoplights. “We changed some things on the car, but this sport is very hard, it is very difficult to understand. Sometimes you put the car on the track and there are things that don’t feel like they should. We have thousands of sensors but it is very difficult to figure out what is wrong. I was sure after Baku that there was something that was not right, and now we return to the usual rhythm ”, sums up the Ferrari. About the accident of his partner: “It is very difficult to drive this car, I had my moments in the high speed zone which confirm that the car is very complex. It is very unstable at high speed and sometimes generates these situations, sometimes accidents. Charles and I do everything we can to push him to the limit. In my opinion this weekend he is behind Red Bull, but in Q3 I didn’t have the best lap and Fernando beat us. We make sure we get the car where it needs to go.”