Sainz reveals what is worrying him ahead of next weekend's Qatar race

Having displayed encouraging pace all through the weekend, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz emerged as Russell's closest rival in the all-important final qualifying segment, but even his best effort was not enough to beat the Mercedes driver.

Since Ferrari achieved an upturn in form in Monza, the Scuderia has been locked in a battle with McLaren for the Constructors' Championship. The Maranello-based outfit finds itself 36 points adrift of the Woking-based squad with only three races left this season.

After both Ferrari drivers ended up in front of the McLaren duo in qualifying at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz reckoned that the Italian outfit will need to maximize its points haul as the forthcoming Qatar race track will expose his SF24's weaknesses.

"I'm a bit worried about Qatar because if you see Turn 1 and Turn 3, it's exactly the type of corner you have in Qatar. Fourth, fifth gear, long combined, which is exactly where we've been struggling. And just in that sector today to the Merc, we were three tenths off. So if you keep adding those corners up, it could be a tough one for us in Qatar.

"So tomorrow is a good opportunity to get points because we might lose them in Qatar. So, yeah, I think we're going to go into the race trying to win because that's what we need to target.

"Also knowing McLaren is behind and with the two cars trying to get the maximum points possible because we know in order to beat McLaren, we're probably going to go through a weekend in Qatar where we're also losing points.

"So we need to make sure we gain them and knowing that, yeah, there are 30 something points ahead. That is quite a lot," concluded Sainz.