After going from P12 past his midfield rivals to sixth at the Styrian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz said Ferrari had similar pace to Red Bull at the Red Bull Ring.
Sainz was disappointed after finishing 11th in France and qualifying 12th here. Still, he showed searing pace today on medium tires and pitted later than everyone but Daniel Ricciardo – both pitted on lap 41 – to overtake his rivals to finish sixth on hard tyres.
READ MORE: Hamilton says Mercedes have ‘no answers’ about Red Bull’s pace after losing to Verstappen in Styria GP
“Yes, I felt very strong from the start when we were on the medium tires and the others pitted. “Pretty much like the Red Bulls today so very, very surprised by that.
The only bugbear for him was failing to finish fifth ahead of Lando Norris – and the Spaniard said he was held up in his efforts to climb into P5 by none other than Lewis Hamilton.
Carlos Sainz “felt really strong” as he stormed to P6 at the Styrian GP
“We managed to fight for P5 from 12th on the grid but unfortunately I came out behind Lewis after a pit stop, I spent almost 15 laps scrubbing the front tires… trying to lap myself and when I passed him – I did. I don’t know if I would say that but I passed Lewis – I was too late to catch Lando and my tires were a little too worn. But today the pace was definitely positive,” he explained.
Sainz eventually finished seven seconds behind Norris despite having started 12th while Norris was third. However, he warned that Ferrari are still grappling with the issues that caused them to finish outside the points in France.
READ MORE: Verstappen says Red Bull car feels better than ever after dominating Styrian GP
“It’s track specific at the moment unfortunately; the car is very similar to Paul Ricard and we haven’t really found a solution to the reasons for our problems with Paul Ricard, so we expect our race pace to vary depending on the circuit until we really get the Finding the reason for what happened to us at Paul Ricard,” he added.
However, Ferrari’s latest signing can look forward to the next round as the Red Bull Ring hosts the Austrian Grand Prix in just seven days and the Scuderia are just 12 points adrift of McLaren; Sainz is eight points behind teammate and driver of the day Charles Leclerc.
