McLaren is one of the most difficult F1 cars to overtake

Ferrari Formula One driver Carlos Sainz Jr. says his former McLaren team are producing “probably the most difficult cars to overtake” after bogging down the British Grand Prix behind Daniel Ricciardo.

Since leaving McLaren for Ferrari in the off-season, Sainz has met his former team many times on the track as the two teams battle for third place in the 2021 F1 Constructors’ Championship.

Last weekend’s British GP was the last race the Spaniard got into a battle with a McLaren after tailing Ricciardo for a long time in the Silverstone race as he battled for fifth place.

But as at the season opener in Bahrain and at the Spanish GP – where Ricciardo also kept him in check on both occasions – Sainz couldn’t negate the McLaren’s excellent straight-ahead performance this year thanks to his switch to Mercedes power.

“Unfortunately it happened to me a couple of times that I got stuck behind a McLaren that I couldn’t get past,” said Sainz after finishing sixth at Silverstone.

“It’s not news, they have a very good straight-line speed, very strong stance and power on corner exit and it is probably one of the most difficult cars to overtake.”

Daniel Ricciardo, McLaren MCL35M, Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

Sainz was frustrated after an early overcut on Ricciardo failed due to a poor pit stop by Ferrari that left the Spaniard in the pits for an extra ten seconds while his left front wheel was tightened.

That ultimately meant that Sainz was behind the Australian until the very end.

“Yes, unfortunately we were one step behind Ricciardo for the whole race,” he added.

“First in the middle class, then we actually overtook him at a very fast pace on the cleaner laps, but unfortunately I had to follow him again after the slow pit stop.

“On the hard tire it was even more difficult to overtake him because it just felt like the hard tire couldn’t take the load of the dirty air at the high speed and I was understeer a lot more and couldn’t keep up with it High speed.

“Even though I had DRS, I wasn’t close enough to try to get it.”