Carlos Sainz achieved his best result of the 2023 F1 season with fourth place at the Austrian GP but was not happy to have missed the podium as Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc finished second; Watch the British GP live on Sky Sports F1 from 7th to 9th July.
Last update: 07/02/23 18:23
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Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez are in a cat-and-mouse race for P3
Carlos Sainz has admitted he was “frustrated” at not being on the podium at the Austrian Grand Prix as he was hot on Charles Leclerc’s heels early in the race.
Sainz asked Ferrari for team orders as he stayed within DRS range of Leclerc for the early laps but was denied the opportunity to get through.
When both drivers arrived during the virtual safety car phase, he had to do a double stack and received a five-second time penalty due to track limits.
The Spaniard engaged in a thrilling battle with Sergio Perez for third place but was unable to stop the Red Bull driver and had to settle for fourth place.
“The gap narrowed from four tenths because I was on his [Leclerc’s] Transmission, lost six or seven seconds and three positions on that first pit stop,” explained Sainz SkySports F1.
“I feel like I played the team game, lagged behind and was punished the same way as the pit stop, lost a lot of time and lost three positions and six seconds when the VSC ended, even though we could have done something differently.” got me frustrated.
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Ferrari racing driver Carlos Sainz looks back on his fourth place at the Austrian Grand Prix
“I lost a lot of time trying to recover, which I managed to do pretty quickly. The backlog and the time I got [penalty for] I had to drive to the limit of the track and from then on my race was in real jeopardy.
“When the VSC came out I was in the middle of turn nine and didn’t feel like pitting so staying out was the right decision. Was it the right decision to come in the next round when the VSC ended?” which we need to analyze.
“I don’t want to say I’m guilty. I’m doing the best job I can, I’m in a very good situation, I’m driving very well and very fast every weekend. I did some good overtaking and defensive maneuvers today and.” That’s why I’m frustrated with the result.”
Team boss Frederic Vasseur added: “With Charles and Perez we were safe.
“When you’re behind, you’re much faster with DRS and we didn’t want to switch every two laps. That was the strategy.”
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were neck and neck at the start of the Austrian GP
Leclerc: Sainz made my life a little bit easier
Leclerc, sixth in the drivers’ standings ahead of George Russell, finished 16 seconds ahead of Sainz at the checkered flag.
The Monegasque rider revealed he watched his teammate battle with Perez.
“Carlos did a great job on it. I was aware that Checo was coming, I didn’t know how fast he would pass Carlos, so I tried to control my powers to apply pressure whenever he got ahead of Carlos,” Leclerc said.
“But Carlos made my life a little bit easier by playing great defence. I could see everything on the screen, which was pretty exciting and that was good.”
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After securing Ferrari’s 800th podium in Formula 1 at the Austrian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc says it’s good to be back but stresses there’s still work to be done
Leclerc: Ferrari is pushing like I’ve never seen before
Ferrari brought further improvements to Spielberg, putting them well ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martin in terms of speed.
Leclerc believes the car was ‘more consistent’ on Sunday and is keen to see how Ferrari fares at the high speeds of Silverstone next weekend.
“It feels good to be back on the podium, especially after a difficult day yesterday. I had a really good feeling in the car on Friday,” he added.
“I think with the new upgrades that feeling is coming there. We really waited for this race to confirm the good feelings we had on Friday and it worked.”
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Highlights from the Austrian Grand Prix, the tenth race of the season.
“It’s no secret that we have to work extremely hard to catch up with Red Bull. They are still much faster on the coming race day. But the feeling is better and the team is pushing like never before in terms of progression ahead of schedule and that’s great to see.
“I feel like on sprint weekends it’s a bit more unpredictable and you have less preparation. Maybe I was a bit off with the set-up for this race.”
“I had a bit too much rear pop out and was struggling with rear degradation. But in the second and final stint it was better as I changed my driving style so maybe we left some power left.”
Commenting on his chances at the British Grand Prix, Leclerc said: “It’s a completely different track at Silverstone and it will be very interesting to see where we are. I have the feeling that the weaknesses of the car are perhaps a little more important now.” – Speed corners. There are a lot of high-speed corners at Silverstone so it will be interesting to see if this new package helps.”
Next up on the F1 calendar is the big race: Silverstone. Don’t miss the British GP live on Sky Sports from 7th to 9th July
