Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz has admitted that the next time he will find himself in the position to lead a race, he does not want to see it slip away so easily like it did in the 2021 Russian Grand Prix.
Carlos started the race at Sochi Autodrom from second place and was able to make a great move to take the lead from his former teammate Lando Norris, picking up a slipstream from the McLaren driver into Turn 2. But due to high tyre degradation and the Ferrari power unit fighting a tricky battle against the Mercedes-powered McLaren, Norris would eventually re-take the race lead with a comfortable DRS-assisted overtake on Lap 13.
Overall the Russian Grand Prix has been a positive race for Carlos Sainz, as the Maranello team look to return to the front consistently next season, but whenever the Spanish driver leads again, he wants his opponent to work harder for the overtake. Speaking to Sky Italia about his start in Russia, Carlos Sainz said:
“It was really tight because I started well but you saw all the ones on the outside start better because there’s more grip. I barely managed to keep the front of the car ahead of George [Russell] to be the first one to take Lando’s slipstream. Me and George fought wheel-to-wheel until I was the one who managed to keep Lando’s slipstream. With the slipstream I managed to catch up with him and braking I said it’s now or never, I don’t know when I’ll have this opportunity again. Today I wanted to be aggressive and to take risks at the start and it worked out well. But the next time I’m P1 I’d like not to be overtaken with that ease.” – he explained.
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In the end it was a good afternoon for Carlos Sainz at Sochi Autodrom, as he scored another podium finish for Scuderia Ferrari, his third top-three finish in his first season alongside the Maranello team. It had all been “relatively quiet” afternoon until the rain fell heavy in the final stages of the event, meaning a fast decision needed to be made – pit for intermediates or stick it out on the slicks. Carlos Sainz chose the former, and it paid off.
“We were relatively quiet, P3, I saw I could stay ahead of [Sergio] Perez until the end of the race since we had the hard tyre, with which we had a good setup and a good pace,” Sainz reflected – “Just five laps from the end, it started raining a lot in the first and the second sector, and everyone who had the hard tyre as Lando, Lewis and I had, we lost a lot of grip, while instead all the ones who had the medium tyre managed to keep a bit more temperature, a bit more grip. And with a softer tyre they started to overtake. From there we made the perfect call and we finished P3.” – Carlos concluded.
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