F1 | Mexico GP | Carlos Sainz admittedly surprised for qualifying sixth after “losing rhythm”
After an engine issue and some struggles to find the right pace at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Carlos Sainz is admittedly surprised for qualifying sixth ahead of Sunday’s Mexican GP.
The Spaniard had an eventful qualifying session on Saturday’s afternoon in Mexico City. He suffered a PU issue losing power in Q1.
The team, however, were able to fix the issue remotely to enable him to push on, and while he left it late, the Ferrari leapt out of the drop zone into safety.
Sainz outpaced his team mate Charles Leclerc when it mattered in Q3 to take P6, lining up ahead of the Monegasque for the fifth time this season.
Despite the good starting position obtained for Sunday’s race, he was left wanting more.
#Quali is over in Mexico City 🇲🇽📍@Carlossainz55 P6@Charles_Leclerc P8
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 6, 2021
for tomorrow’s #MexicoGP 👊#essereFerrari 🔴 pic.twitter.com/asxv4DNFfH
“The final result is not bad, but we expected to be in front of [Pierre] Gasly,” he said. “He had a tow, he was playing a bit of games with [team mate Yuki Tsunoda].
“After FP3 I felt really confident and all of a sudden, I lost the rhythm in qualifying.
“It’s been an eventful qualifying for me. From the start of Q1, I managed to do a very good lap and then I struggled with an engine issue at the exit of the pits. Then it was very difficult to get into a rhythm,” commented the Ferrari driver.
“I didn’t do a clean lap until Q3, and even the Q3 lap, because I was lacking a bit of rhythm, it was nothing special so I’m a bit surprised to see me up there in P6.”
Regarding the engine issue, Sainz said it is surrounding “a start procedure after leaving the box” where they are struggling but he’s not concerned for the race and he reckons “we will figure it out for tomorrow and it shouldn’t be a big issue”.
🇲🇽 One of the most eventful and stressful Qualys of my career. Engine issue, flags, traffic… I couldn’t get into the rhythm and didn’t get a clean lap until the end of Q3. P6 isn’t too bad all things considered. We’ll go for it tomorrow!
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) November 6, 2021
👉https://t.co/CxC0JQPZ2O#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/f44dN16Blg
Meanwhile Leclerc felt disheartened after having looked very competitive in the early segments of qualifying but ending up only eighth.
“I’m not happy with myself today,” said the 24-year-old Monegasque. “It’s been a very difficult weekend for me. FP1, FP2, FP3, I just couldn’t find the feeling with the car and then in qualifying, finally I managed to find it”
