Breaking news
Formula 1 Monaco GP
McLaren's Barcelona S3 struggles a concern for Monaco
Carlos Sainz says McLaren’s struggles at the Spanish Grand Prix exposed a weakness in low speed corners that must be addressed for the next race in Monaco.
Jonathan Noble
Edited: May 19, 2019, 8:22 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
While the Spaniard managed to finish eighth in his home race, he says that things were far from straightforward, with his McLaren giving away too much laptime in the final sector of the Barcelona circuit.
"We suffered a lot," explained Sainz. "We had no pace. We were struggling a lot in the last sector. No rear end in the car.
"I had [Daniel] Ricciardo on my back and I was struggling in the final sector with the rear end and the wind. No feeling with the car at all, just complaining the whole race with the rear.
"Then, after the safety car came out, we executed a good strategy, profited from every opportunity we had to overtake the two Toro Rossos, a Haas and Ricciardo. "
With Ricciardo's Renault team running the same engine as McLaren, Sainz says the experience of battling the Australian has highlighted where his car is lacking.
"We learned we need to improve in the low-speed in the final sector," he explained. "We're not very strong there. Not much more.
"I think the balance was not right in the car, so we need to check something massively. We need to find out why the pace was not there."
The performance of cars in the tight and twisty sector three at Barcelona has always provided a good clue about Monaco form, but Sainz thinks that all is not lost because McLaren was competitive in the low-speed corners in Baku.
"I think we will have our chances like we did [in Spain]," he said. "We didn't find the right balance in the car for the last sector and basically that cost us in qualifying and race pace, but we will go back and analyse why.
"In Baku, low-speed wasn't a problem. It was only [in Spain]."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Promoted: How the French GP ranks for on-track action
Next article F1 and teams just "tens of millions apart" over 2021 cost cap
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jonathan Noble
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
Formula 1
Formula 1
Brundle awarded OBE in King’s New Year’s honours
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Formula 1
Formula 1
The new rules dilemma that will define the 2025 F1 season
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
Formula 1
Formula 1
Australian GP
Verstappen issues Red Bull title warning in push for RB21 progress
More from
McLaren
McLaren promotes Gregoire Saucy to WEC Hypercar team for 2027
WEC
WEC
McLaren promotes Gregoire Saucy to WEC Hypercar team for 2027
McLaren to introduce 2027 F1 front wing at Brazil GP
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
McLaren to introduce 2027 F1 front wing at Brazil GP
Latest news
Max Verstappen jokes about rain threat in Brazil: "I've installed antivirus now!"
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
4 min
Max Verstappen jokes about rain threat in Brazil: "I've installed antivirus now!"
Lewis Hamilton backs claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than F1 rivals
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
14 min
Lewis Hamilton backs claims Charles Leclerc races him harder than F1 rivals
Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout
IndyCar
Indy IndyCar 23 min
Colton Herta backs Mexico IndyCar race following Pato O’Ward promoter callout
How Kyle Larson can lose the NASCAR Cup championship at Homestead
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
54 min
How Kyle Larson can lose the NASCAR Cup championship at Homestead
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1960s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe