Sainz hails ‘really good race’

Editor

Racing from 20th on the grid to ninth at the chequered flag, Carlos Sainz admits it was a result he would have signed up for if offered it after his qualifying crash for the Canadian GP.

Although Sainz had progressed into Q2 in Montreal on Saturday, his efforts were thwarted by a crash early in the session.

As such he finished 16th on the timesheets, was elevated to 15th by Daniil Kvyat’s penalty only to drop down to 20th on the starting grid as Toro Rosso were forced to change his gearbox.

Sainz still managed to score points, his third successive top-ten result.

The Spaniard congratulated Toro Rosso, saying both the strategy and the pit stops were spot on.

“A really good race for me in Montreal!” he said. “If you had told me before the race that I would have finished in P9 after starting P20, I would’ve probably signed immediately!

“I’m really happy to have made it back into the points, I enjoyed it a lot out there.

“We chose the right moment for our first pit stop, going for the undercut, and I then did five or six qualifying laps on the Soft tyre, which allowed me to overtake five or six cars and keep up with the Force India.

“Even if I hadn’t made the mistake in qualifying, more than a P8 this weekend was impossible, so we can be happy and satisfied with our weekend.

“A result like today’s shows that we are strong and that we are constantly improving. Today we did the right strategy and good pit stops, so I’d like to congratulate the whole team for this weekend, it’s been great!”