After a qualifying session which did not end how he hoped, Carlos Sainz tells us what happened in Monaco today: "In qualifying, I do not know why things became complicated, McLaren and Force India have improved a lot and we had to push hard. For this reason, this extra that you put gives you the risk of making mistakes and maybe staying out of Q3, in fact in a couple of occasions I touched the barriers. In Monaco from Free Practices to Quali, the car usually improves a lot as the tracks do and the feeling also grows. I think that this was our problem today. Maybe we have not improved as much as we wanted during the weekend but I can not be unsatisfied with the 8^th place after two very good laps, I do not think there was much more to do." declares the Spanish driver.

Then he continues searching for the reasons and says "Maybe Force India and McLaren have improved more with the track and they have found something that we could not. Supposedly it is something that we will look at and we will try to learn why it happened".

In the first part of Quali Renault tried a strategy that by does narrowly not penalize them.

"In Q1 we tried to play them by doing the whole session with only one set of tires, and then we left for Q3 two new sets. With the rhythm that we had in FP3 for us it was more than enough to use this strategy, but in reality in Q1 the thing has complicated us a bit. The truth is that I still have not understood because others have improved so much and we do not. It has been a much more fought classification than we expected." says Carlos.

Later answering a question about his team-mate he said: "There are times when it's one and sometimes it's another. I know that you look at many qualifying statistics and more things to know how it goes, but for me it was only a matter of time to break. Sometimes in F1 it goes faster than others and vice versa. It's a matter of putting the three sectors together, it's always very tight ".

"I tried to change several regulations on the steering wheel in several corners, but even so I had to play a lot to get closer to those in front."

Then Sainz goes on to talk about tomorrow's race and what can happen: "I think that the 4 of us from the midfield that made it to Q3 all knows it will be a difficult race and starting with the Hyper Soft will clearly be a disadvantage. If for example a safety car comes out, those who are on ultra-soft could win the battle and it would not be our fault. It will not be an easy race and the strategy will be fundamental, we must keep an eye on everything."

Talking about the conversations Carlos had with Marko in the Red Bull Energy Station, the Madrid-born man declares: "I have a very good relationship with Helmut and with Red Bull and that's why we do not have to put a stop to what happened yesterday, it's just a talk between a driver and a person that has brought me to F1, that I respect a lot and still have my contract. It is normal to have conversations to know how everything is going. He told me everything is good but we do not talk much about that topic either. We touch more motorsport issues in general and what will happen next year."