Sainz feeling ‘exposed’ after failing to make Q3

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Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz progressing as a great leader at Ferrari says Mattia Binotto.

After failing to reach Q3 at Imola, Carlos Sainz says the track has exposed the lack of mileage he has under his belt for Ferrari.

The Spaniard was impressive in his first qualifying session for the team in Bahrain, securing P8.

However, he could not make it to Q3 for the second consecutive race weekend at Imola as he finished Q2 down in P11 and will therefore start the race from that position.

Discussing his performance afterwards, he said the circuit has showed the lack of experience he has in his new car.

“I honestly felt quick all weekend but always felt like I couldn’t put the lap together, and qualifying exposed it,” he said.

“I was just a bit all over the place, never really managing to put corners together doing the whole lap. Even though I felt quick in the corners I managed to nail, I just couldn’t put it together.

“So I’m disappointed because I know a lap time was there if I do a good job. I know I could have gone through [to] Q3.

“But at the same time, I think this track has exposed us a bit in terms of that I still lack a bit of mileage, a bit of understanding from the car to exactly know what to expect and to know how to extract the absolute limit of it.”

Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari merchandise is available via the official Formula 1 store

Ferrari have looked like perhaps the third quickest team all weekend, with both Sainz and Charles Leclerc both finishing in the top seven in every practice session.

Only the Monegasque was able to carry that form into qualifying though as he secured P4.

Sainz went as far as saying he did not do one single good lap himself when it mattered.

“For sure I didn’t do a good lap in the whole session,” he told Sky Italy.

“I was fast more or less in all the corners during qualifying but I didn’t manage to put it all together in a good lap.

“I didn’t go fast in all the corners in a single lap and I also made a mistake braking on the last lap in Q2, and I didn’t manage to make a good lap.

“So I know where I can gain something, where I have to improve. I know I can be fast in every corner, I just have to be fast in all the corners in one single lap. With four sets of tyres, going well in only one corner is not enough.”

Additional reporting by Luca Brambilla

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