After the red flag in Q1, Sainz drove out of his garage as one of the first drivers and waited 90 seconds at the end of the pit lane before resuming.
As soon as he stepped out of the pits he reported a lack of power and as he crawled down the straight he was told to use idle revs to solve the problem. He was almost at the first corner when he could finally drive off. It wasn’t the first time the PU problem had surfaced.
“Yes, it was difficult,” he said. “We had a bit of a problem getting out of the garage this weekend and if we stood too long we had a bit of that problem.
“But I didn’t expect it to last that long. My tires cooled down a lot and driving a lap like this at the end of Q1 was very stressful.
“To be honest, Q2 was stressful, eventful, probably one of my most complicated qualifying sessions. I never really got into a rhythm until a decent lap in Q3, but even on that lap I felt like I was two or three tenths away from the car’s potential. I’m a bit surprised to see myself on P6. “
When asked about the engine problem, he said, “It happened a little over the weekend and we’re trying to fix it. That shouldn’t be a problem in the race. “
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Despite the drivetrain problem, Sainz is confident he can have a strong Sunday starting behind the first two rows, which were blocked by Mercedes and Red Bull respectively.
“As I said, qualifying was the worst session of the weekend and we still managed to beat the McLaren [Daniel Ricciardo] and be two or three tenths of the AlphaTauri. removed [Pierre Gasly]and they played with the trains.
“I think if we get the feeling back with the car and I get into a good rhythm in the race tomorrow, the racing pace can suddenly return and we can do something with the strategy.
“I think overtaking on the track will be very, very difficult, because the temperatures behind a car mean you can’t push more than a few laps. So it’s going to be difficult. “
Sainz ‘team-mate Charles Leclerc starts from eighth after a disappointing final run in Q3.
“I struggled really hard in FP1, FP2, FP3,” said the Monegaske.
“But when it mattered in the second run of Q3, I made a mistake, so FP1, FP2, FP3 certainly didn’t help, that my lack of consistency didn’t help, but that’s no excuse.”
The post Sainz was surprised to qualify for the F1 Mexico GP in sixth place after fear of the aggregate first appeared on monter-une-startup.
