Formula 1 Russian GP
Sainz: Russian GP my best weekend so far with Ferrari
Carlos Sainz felt “proud” of his performance across the Russian Grand Prix weekend, calling it his best Formula 1 race weekend since joining Ferrari for 2021.
Luke Smith
Edited: Sep 29, 2021, 3:10 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Sainz scored his third podium of the season by finishing third at the Sochi Autodrom on Sunday, having led the early stages of the race before slipping behind Lando Norris.
Sainz looked set to finish fourth before the late downpour allowed him to rise up to third place after a well-timed switch to intermediates, following home Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.
Sainz has been working throughout 2021 to try and get up to speed at Ferrari since his switch from McLaren, but now sits 8.5 points clear of teammate Charles Leclerc in the standings.
The result capped off a solid weekend for Sainz that had seen him qualify second on Saturday in damp conditions, prompting the Spaniard to label it as his best weekend yet with Ferrari.
"I think I managed to put a very strong weekend from practice, especially into Q3, and then a good start and good pace management in very tricky conditions," Sainz said.
"I'm not going to lie, I'm proud of the weekend. I think the team has also done a very good job with all of the pitstop calls, yesterday going onto the soft tyre at the right time, today going into taking the intermediates at the right time.
"Overall, I think it's been my strongest weekend in Ferrari."
Read Also:
- Mercedes vows to be "really aggressive" in fight against Red Bull
- Norris "devastated" to lose Sochi F1 win after making wrong tyre call
- Mercedes "adamant" about pitting after Hamilton ignored first call
Sainz overtook Norris on the run down to Turn 2 on the opening lap, but was passed just before coming into the pits at the end of lap 14 as he struggled with tyre graining.
At one point, Sainz was informed that he looked set to finish the race in fifth place, something he conceded "came as a bit of a surprise" at the time.
"After leading the race, you are at least confident that you are in the fight for the podium," Sainz said.
"I didn't exactly know where the others were at that point on-track. I knew I had done a pitstop, and I knew that I was not getting overcut by anyone. So the pace was decent.
"Maybe our simulations suggested that because everyone was going to put the medium at the end, we were going to be an easy prey for them, and we were most likely going to finish P5."
After clearing traffic, Sainz was able to up his pace and grab third place thanks to the late rain, although he conceded the result "doesn't taste as good" after leading the race.
"What we need to keep working on as a team is to make sure the next time I am in the position of leading a race, we make it stick and we win the race, we don't suffer as much as we suffered with graining and we were not so vulnerable on the straights and all that," Sainz said.
"[We need to] make sure we keep improving as a team to make it stick next time."
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 Giovinazzi's Sochi F1 race “a mess” after radio failure
Next article Ten things we learned from F1's 2021 Russian Grand Prix
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Luke Smith
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
Formula 1
Formula 1
1998 Belgian GP: When the Schumachers went to war
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Formula 1
Formula 1
The race that transformed perceptions of Red Bull
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
Formula 1
Formula 1
Hamilton in the process of selecting Brad Pitt’s co-star for F1 movie
More from
Carlos Sainz
Lewis Hamilton: Younger F1 drivers are “more and more cautious” about racing in rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
Lewis Hamilton: Younger F1 drivers are “more and more cautious” about racing in rain
What the drivers are expecting from F1's return to Sepang
Formula 1
Formula 1
Bahrain GP in Malaysia
What the drivers are expecting from F1's return to Sepang
More from
Ferrari
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
13 h
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
WEC
WEC
Barcelona
The six drivers doing double duty in Portimao GTWCE and Barcelona WEC this weekend
Latest news
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Phoenix II
2 h
GTA VI 'Vice City' blimp to appear at NASCAR championship weekend
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 3 h
Verstappen Racing struggles to 15th as Porsche takes emotional Portimao pole
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Singapore GP
7 h
Franco Colapinto urges fans to stop the abuse: “You’re not helping me or my future”
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Indonesian GP
8 h
Gresini: New MotoGP rules won't increase gap between factory and satellite teams
Feature
Discover prime content
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