Apart from Hamilton, the driver who most distinguished himself in this third sprint qualifying of the season at Interlagos is Carlos Sainz. A practically perfect start, assisted by the choice of the Soft tire, propelled him from fifth to third position at the first corner before successfully attacking Verstappen in turn 4.
The joy of second place lasted a couple of laps, but the Spaniard’s ability was to manage the softer compound as best he could and to withstand the siege of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull tooth and nail. An effort that was worth the third position and a well-deserved point at the checkered flag, and in the San Paolo Grand Prix he will have the opportunity to start from the clean side of the second row just behind Bottas and Verstappen.
“Not just these 24 laps, but the whole weekend was the best since I’ve been with Ferrari – commented the Madrid player – Since yesterday’s free practice, passing through qualifying and arriving at today’s start, I was immediately at ease with the car: thanks to the work every weekend with the engineers to keep improving. We were aggressive and managed to make a good start and a good management of the Soft tire to get to the end ”.
“After passing Verstappen, I immediately saw that he had too much speed for us – added Sainz – The initial laps on the soft tire are very important to manage it: if you push them you risk not reaching the end. I used the laps that Max passed me to save the tire a bit and use it later against Perez. Tomorrow we will have a good opportunity starting from third, but Red Bull have several options with the strategy to overtake me with Checo. It will be 70 difficult laps ”.
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