The Ferrari duo of Sainz and Leclerc qualified well for the Sprint at São Paulo, with both of its cars in the top 7. But there was some clear frustration from the pair after yet another superb qualifying from Pierre Gasly in his AlphaTauri prevented Ferrari from being “best of the rest” after Mercedes and Red Bull. When asked about his day in Interlagos, Sainz showed mixed feelings with the end result, but emphasized he is making progress with regards to his understanding of the SF21:

"I think there were some good laps in that [qualifying]. Second consecutive quali where I could feel the car very well underneath me, and I get to drive it exactly like I want. And also, finding a bit my direction with setup, which seems to be also working in the right direction, so very happy," the Spaniard said.

When asked about Gasly’s AlphaTauri being in front of both red cars, Sainz was quick to point out it was "no surprise" the pace of the Faenza-based team, but stated Ferrari "need to do better" in order to surpass the Frenchman:

"It’s been there all year [AlphaTauri’s pace], it’s no surprise for us. When they put a lap together, that car is as quick or sometimes quicker than us. That’s why, as Ferrari, we are not entirely happy with it, because we know we need to do better, and we will push to be better. This time it was half a tenth, but we need to remember they’ve always been quick in Brazil since ’19 already. [It] will be a good fight with them," Sainz concluded.

Here’s where @Carlossainz55 and @Charles_Leclerc will be starting tomorrow’s #F1 Sprint from!#essereFerrari 🔴 #BrazilGP #Quali pic.twitter.com/cIQLSYpfWS

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 12, 2021

Teammate Charles Leclerc was even less pleased with his result, the Monegasque being beaten by Sainz in qualifying for the 7th time in 2021. Leclerc put his struggles down to a lack of rhythm in Q3:

"Q3 was just not great. We obviously did the first run on the used tyres, which wasn’t great for my rhythm and then I didn’t do a good enough job on the second run in Q3. P7, I think maybe – AlphaTauri was just probably too quick today, but it’s like this," the Monegasque said.

On a more positive note, both Ferraris were ahead of the McLarens on Friday in São Paulo, the Woking squad finishing the day P8 and P9. Leclerc reckons that’s the only positive of his tricky qualifying day:

"This is definitely the positive of today, but I wish there was obviously a better result for the team," he concluded.

Friday in Brazil 🇧🇷#essereFerrari 🔴 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/A0GooNVjq7

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 12, 2021