The battle at the front is pale, but the middle bracket of Formula 1 is colorful

McLaren: Carlos Sainz in Lando Norris (51 points)

“I was very unlucky and saw points fall into the hole,” said Carlos Sainz. “Yet the team is third. That says a lot about the progression. We have come a long way.” The Spaniard became last week just like Mercedes drivers Hamilton and Bottas at Silverstone in the final phase, nipped by a flat tire. “Away fourth place, that is sour and disappointing. We have to be a little more careful.”

“I know sometimes things are going bad, but someday I will get a dose of luck in return,” said Sainz. “The car is very good and we know that it is getting faster. That is not an empty slogan, we constantly measure that. It is necessary in the battle with Renault and Racing Point. We should never underestimate that.”

Ferrari: Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc (43 points)

Striking: Sainz mentions his future employer Ferrari not. Apparently the McLaren driver assumes that Ferrari will still put things in order. That is what the red racing stable owes to its stand. They have been surpassed by Max Verstappen’s Red Bull Racing and that is painful enough.

That Ferrari is suddenly mid-engine, is not scoreboard journalism. “It is at the moment where we belong,” said four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel.

“Little has changed in recent weeks”, Charles Leclerc adds. “We are losing ground on the straight. It feels crazy to do a great qualifying and then be fourth.”

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