Fourth place for Carlos Sainz in the last qualifying session of the 2022 Formula 1 season: the Ferrari driver had to admit defeat alongside the Red Bull duo and teammate Charles Leclerc. In the end, the two separated by 0.150 seconds.
“I’m quite happy with qualifying. I was fast the whole time,” sums up the Spaniard, who set a personal best of 1:24.242 minutes.
There might have been more. “It’s a shame that I got stuck behind Lando and Alpine on their slow outlaps in the last attempt in Q3. In the end, the tires weren’t in the perfect window and I had to fight the entire lap,” explains Sainz. “Overall it was a strong qualification.”
Can Ferrari challenge Red Bull?
However, the pole time of world champion Max Verstappen was 0.418 seconds short of Sergio Pérez in second place by almost two tenths. Can Ferrari still fight with them tomorrow. “I think Red Bull is within reach,” said Sainz.
“But at the same time they are faster and they have the faster car this weekend. We’ll do everything to beat them in the race. But if they’re three tenths faster in qualifying, they’re usually half a second ahead in the race. So there’s always a certain gap in the race.”
Although Ferrari came a little closer on Saturday, “but they still have the upper hand,” Sainz analyzes. “We did long runs yesterday and today to understand the tires and find a balance. It’s not easy. Red Bull was significantly faster in the long run yesterday.”
“I think we were able to improve a bit today, but I’m not sure if it will be enough to beat them. Of course we will try to put pressure on in the race, but our focus is primarily on Mercedes,” emphasized the Ferrari driver.
Securing second place among the designers
Because in the fight with the Silver Arrows, Ferrari is fighting for second place among the designers – and thus also for a few million. Before the last race of the season, the team has a 19-point advantage. Sainz is confident “that we can maintain the lead tomorrow”.
“The important thing today was that we are ahead of Mercedes and have a good chance of beating them in the race as well. They looked fast all weekend.”
However, Sainz also knows: “They are usually faster in the race than in qualifying, so I expect that they will fight with us tomorrow. To be honest, I was surprised to see them so far behind in qualifying.” Lewis Hamilton and George Russell only qualified for the third row.
“They will certainly be hard to beat tomorrow,” Sainz believes, “but I think we’re in a good position to secure second place in the world championship.” Personally, he would like to end this Formula 1 season with a podium.
Support for teammate Leclerc
At the same time, the Spaniard also agrees to help team-mate Leclerc in the fight for the runner-up title if necessary. “If he needs my help, I will help him,” he replies when asked about a possible team order.
“First and foremost, I’m concentrating on my own race and trying to end the season with a sense of achievement. If the team asks me to let them pass or help them fight Checo, I’ll do it. Of course we have to Mercedes keep an eye on it and decide based on the situation.”