Sainz will "drive his heart out" for the victory in Abu Dhabi
Having delivered a strong performance in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz grabbed P3 on the grid for his final race with Ferrari before his switch to Williams.
Having been in the mix for the top places in the three practice sessions, Carlos Sainz looked competitive in qualifying. The Spaniard displayed impressive performance in the first two qualifying segments, and he was quick in Q3 as well, but he failed to beat the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri on a weekend when Ferrari still has a slim chance to clinch its first Constructors' title since 2008.
Reflecting on his day at the Yas Marina Circuit, Sainz explained that McLaren might have held their performance back in the opening stages of qualifying before unleashing the full potential of their MCL38 in the all-important final qualifying segment.
"I felt like I did some very good, very clean laps in Q1 and Q2, probably finding the limit of the car very early on in qualifying and then giving myself and giving maybe the team a bit of hope that we could fight for pole position.
"But I think as soon as these two guys started putting, I think, a good lap together in Q3… I think my lap was pretty good. Obviously, there's always little things here and there that you would like to change. But when Lando talks about that he didn't quite nail Turn 9 or he did a small mistake, then you realise that it's the same for everyone.
"And, you know, we've been a weekend three to four tenths behind. I'll take being two tenths off in quali and hopefully we can match their race pace and get in the fight tomorrow.
Asked whether he has been surprised by McLaren's dominant pace so far this weekend, Sainz said that the track characteristics is playing to the strengths of the MCL38.
"I think realistically, once you look in detail the layout of the track, I think I kind of understand that they are a bit quicker. If all the track was long straights and Turn 6 and 7s, then I think we would be flying around here.
"But unfortunately, we have Turn 1, we have Turn 9, where the McLaren is a clear step ahead of us, like we saw in Qatar. And yeah, they're simply a better package for this circuit.
"It's unfortunate, you know, that the last two races of the season, it's come to tracks where maybe the McLaren is just that last tenth, two tenths quicker. But at the same time, that's how the season goes. And if that's the case, we should have done our homework earlier," concluded the Spaniard.
