In qualifying at Zandvoort, Ferraris Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz got P5 and P6 on the starting grid for the Dutch Grand Prix – with Sainz being full of praise for his mechanics and their conversion of his SF21 after his crash in Free Practice 3 as “one of the most impressive” referred to things that I saw as a racing driver ”.
Sainz had lost the rear of his Ferrari from Turn 2 in FP3 before hitting the steep walls on Turn 3 and damaging the left side of his SF21. But just minutes before qualifying began, Ferrari’s mechanics finished repairing Sainz’s machine and started the engine. Sainz finally made it into Q3 before taking P6, just 0.01 seconds behind team-mate Leclerc.
READ MORE: Verstappen wows home fans after ousting Hamilton to take the thrilling Dutch GP pole
“That was crazy,” said Sainz of the repairs. “To see the mechanics work at this pace to get me out of there is one of the most impressive things I’ve experienced as a racing driver. It was high tension, but you could also tell that everyone was just focusing on my car to get it back out, and they did it, so this is for them.
“To be honest, I admire you very much for what you have achieved today and I hope that I can repay you tomorrow with a good result and today with a good qualification.
2021 Dutch GP FP3: Sainz has a big crash in the last practice session
“It’s a good result, especially after what I suffered in FP3,” he added. “The crash takes a lot of self-confidence, of course, the pressure in the minutes before Q1 without knowing whether I would be eliminated – it was probably one of the most difficult qualifications of the season and of my life with all the pressure that is there.
“But we recovered well and in Q3 I missed by a thousandth of making the top 5, so it was a strong recovery and I have to be proud of it.”
READ MORE: Verstappen says technical problems prevented the pole lap at the “incredible” Zandvoort from being even faster
Sainz may have been happy, but teammate Leclerc admitted he wanted more as Monegasque – who led FP2 and Q1 before finishing second fastest in Q2 – believed that a setup change had allowed AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly to win Sneak to the top by him in Q3 and claim P4.
“I’m very happy with the lap,” said Leclerc, who had watched Brother Arthur win race 1 in the Formula 3 series earlier in the day.
Charles Leclerc “pretty happy” with his hot lap, but “a shame to miss P4” at Zandvoort
“But the thing is, we might have exaggerated a bit with the front wing in the last run and lost the rear a bit on this lap. But overall it was a good lap. It’s a shame that I miss the P4.
“We’re starting from the clean line, so hopefully we can benefit from it,” Leclerc added about Sunday’s race. “But it will be tight, AlphaTauri is also very fast this weekend, so it will be a nice race.”
READ MORE: Hamilton and Wolff plan to put Verstappen under “massive pressure” with a split strategy at the Dutch GP
The good news for Ferrari was that they clearly outperformed rivals McLaren on Saturday with Daniel Ricciardo McLaren’s lead driver in P10, while Lando Norris finished in P13 – with third-placed McLaren Ferrari currently leading the Constructors’ Championship with 3.5 points.
The post Carlos Sainz praises the mechanics as he recovers from an FP3 crash to help Ferrari lock out the third row at Zandvoort first appeared on monter-une-startup.
