Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz will start today’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve from P3, just behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen and the Alpine of Fernando Alonso, who impressed with his P2 lap in qualifying.
Given the fact that Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc are forced to start from the back, Ferrari’s hopes of fighting for the race win against Max Verstappen’s are linked to the Spanish driver. Carlos Sainz is looking for his maiden Formula 1 victory but has not come close this season so far, despite the fact that Ferrari’s F1-75 has proven to be one of the leading cars on the grid. The Spaniard pinpoints the importance of the race start in today’s Canadian Grand Prix at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as he hopes to challenge Max Verstappen for victory in Montreal:
“I think it will all depend a bit on the start,” he said after the qualifying session on Saturday – “If we can get a good start and get straight behind Max, then we can just try and follow and put some pressure. If you lose a bit of time in the first five to 10 laps, maybe Fernando does a good start, then the gap could be big enough that you’re just a bit too far behind for the rest of the race. But the target is to get a clean start, a good one, and then race from there. Will we have the pace to fight Max? According to Friday, it should be close – then obviously we know in the race, they’re always very strong on tyre management. But I think we can still be there.” – the Spanish driver added.
During the qualifying session, the track conditions gradually improved throughout the three segments, which did not help Ferrari, as Carlos Sainz explained. The Spanish driver believes his best opportunity of taking pole position would have been if the track had remained wet because the Red Bull RB18 car was able to bring the tyres into the ideal temperature window a lot better than the F1-75:
“Obviously, I would like to be in the first row at least,” he said when asked for his thoughts on qualifying in Montreal – “But, in general, I felt like… in the wet, I’ve been feeling quite good all weekend. Or FP3 and Q1. Then, when the track started to dry up, I felt like Max started to get a bit away from us. Especially there towards Q3, already in the first set he looked particularly competitive, and I knew that going into Q3, run two, I needed a very, very good lap if I wanted to steal pole position from him. I think Sector 1 was quite okay, I think I did purple, but then Sector 2, I knew I didn’t just find the grip that I was expecting to find. And then into the last corner, I said, ‘Okay, I’m probably not in pole position already. So I’m going to try and send it’. Sending it was probably not the right call and it cost me probably P2. But yeah, a couple of tenths we missed there, I think, for pole position – but overall, a decent feeling with the car.” – the Ferrari driver continued.
The last driver to win the Canadian Grand Prix after starting from outside the front row is Daniel Ricciardo, who secured victory for Red Bull eight years ago, but Carlos Sainz admitted he is confident of being able to pass the two rivals at the front to score his first F1 win:
“I think anything can happen in Formula 1 racing. It doesn’t really matter – the positions today, it’s all about the race tomorrow. I think [if] we get a good start and we put pressure on the guys in front, then anything can happen. I think Max seemed very quick on Friday, he’s been on it all weekend. We’ve been chasing a bit that last tenth, compared to them – but I think tomorrow, with a good start and a good strategy, we can put some pressure.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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