Carlos Sainz: There were no signs of trouble

The victory in the Austrian Grand Prix allowed Charles Leclerc to return to second place in the individual standings and narrow the gap on Max Verstappen to thirty-eight points. His teammate Carlos Sainz had every chance of finishing second, but retired on lap 56 due to a fire at a power station.

Charles Leclerc (1st): “The last laps of the race were very bad due to problems with the accelerator. Passing the third and fourth corners was a real disaster, as the car jerked constantly during acceleration and behaved unpredictably. I had to adapt, but I was able to finish and keep the first place – I’m very happy about that.

Last night after the sprint I worked hard to adapt my driving style because I knew I had to improve my work with rubber, especially with Medium tires. As a result, I managed not only to pick up the pace, but also to better control tire wear – I behaved almost perfectly. This was the main difference with the sprint. I’m glad Saturday night’s hard work paid off today.

Of course I’m concerned about Carlos’ retirement due to reliability issues. We have to find out the reasons and make sure this doesn’t happen again during the season.”

Carlos Sainz (retired): “There was no sign that there was a problem with the engine – it all happened suddenly. I just have no words for it now – I lost a lot of points, my team and I could have had an excellent result – we could have easily won the winning double.

The car was on fire, so the damage is extensive. Not the best situation – you need to understand the reasons for what happened. Today we had a pace, the tires were practically not worn – we were fast. I have no choice but to accept this result and turn the page.

We can win back a lot of points from Max and Red Bull, so it’s hard to retire. But we’ll turn the page and keep attacking – there are many more races ahead.