'Almost Impossible To Think About Win': Sainz After Another Verstappen's Triumph
F1Sunday, 07 April 2024 at 21:30
Carlos Sainz already has three podiums in 2024, including one win, but at the Japanese Grand Prix, he felt it was "almost impossible to think about winning."
It wouldn't be unfair to say that the Spanish driver has been the best driver, apart from Max Verstappen, this year so far. Sainz was forced to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix because of surgery, but in all other races, he stood on the podium.
On top of that, he is the only man to beat the Dutch driver in the last 22 races, even though his last win came at the Australian Grand Prix, from which Verstappen was forced to retire.
At the Suzuka Circuit in Japan, Sainz stood on the podium once again, but this time around, he felt that victory was much further than it was in the previous races.
The 29-year-old qualified fourth, behind both Red Bull cars and his former teammate Lando Norris, and even though he was aware that Ferrari's race pace was better than their qualifying pace, he knew it would be probably impossible to think about the win.
"We kind of knew our race pace was better than our qualifying pace. Still probably not enough to go for a win because obviously starting P4 and given how good the race pace of the Red Bull is, it’s almost impossible to think about a win, but I was hopeful of achieving a podium that in the end we managed to achieve, even if it was a very tough race, very strategic."
At one point, it seemed that Sainz would even miss out on the fight for the podium, but thanks to a really fast last stint on the hard tyres, he was able to finish third, once again ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc.
"The track condition changed a lot through the race. We went from a very sunny track that we hadn't had all weekend to a very cloudy track. The degradation went down a lot and you could push a lot more on the tyres halfway through the race."
"And yeah, this changed the whole situation quite a lot. At one point, I thought the podium wasn't possible, but then with a new Hard, the pace was mega and I could get back onto the podium."
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