Carlos Sainz explains why his P6 finish at Silverstone was “still a positive result”. Carlos explains why his P6 finish at Silverstone was "still a positive result".

Despite a frustratingly slow pitstop midway through the 2021 British Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz said that his sixth place finish at the Silverstone circuit was “still a positive result”, yet at the same time he could not help looking wistfully at Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc’s podium finish.

Carlos Sainz came into the pits from second place on Lap 29 but a stubborn left-front tyre change meant his stop lasted 12.3 seconds and the Spaniard lost 37.5 seconds in the pit lane, which was 2.5s less than Lewis Hamilton spent in the pitlane serving a 10s stop-and-go penalty. The Ferrari driver was asked if he was disappointed after the race.

“Yes, of course, when you have such a strong pace and you do fastest laps and you are basically as fast as we were today it’s obviously difficult to take,” he said. “But considering that [on Lap 1 of the F1 Sprint (below)] I was last and I managed to finish P6 [in the Grand Prix] with a very slow pitstop, it is still a positive result. I think the team has been great in pit stops this year and it’s the first mistake we do. It is what it is; it’s always going to happen during the year and congrats to Charles because today he put the car where it belonged.” – he explained at the end of the 2021 British Grand Prix.

The Silverstone event marked a third-consecutive double-points haul for Scuderia Ferrari and a huge turnaround in form after they failed to score at all in the French GP, four races ago.

“I mean, it’s been very positive, you know, to see that the car in clean air was as fast as it was today,” he said. “I think as you said, at some point I was setting fastest lap on 25-[lap]-old mediums, so it shows that the tyre deg and the set-up and the car balance is improving. We are indeed looking to improve all the areas, still, but today at this circuit that we thought it was not going to be very good for us; we delivered, and the car was very nice to drive.” – he concluded.

The Scuderia left Silverstone with lots to smile about, with Charles Leclerc having taken his first podium since the 2020 British GP having led 49 laps – Carlos Sainz’s points helping the team keep tabs on McLaren in their fight for P3 in the constructors’ championship.