Carlos Sainz qualified second in Las Vegas, 0.098 seconds behind pole sitter George Russell. The Ferrari driver expects to fight for victory in the race.
His teammate Charles Leclerc qualified fourth and starts ahead of both title candidates Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
Carlos Sainz (2nd): “Very difficult and intense qualifying. I finished closer to pole than I expected. Actually I thought that pole was mine, but at the end of the session George was very, very fast, but I’m still very happy.
I’m starting from a very good position. Last year I was 12th at the start due to the infamous drain hatch, but tomorrow I will start second and hope for a better result.
We have to be confident that we can fight at the front tomorrow. If we were that close to pole position today, then there should be a chance of victory tomorrow, and that’s what we should aim for.
Much will of course depend on overtaking and strategy. Mercedes did a very good job with the tires today. In the first sector they were literally flying – they were tenths ahead of us, but I made up the gap for the rest of the lap. But tomorrow there is a new start and everything starts again. Let’s see how fast the car is with a full tank.
We need wins to stay ahead of McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship. That’s why we have to win.”
Charles Leclerc (4th): “I have always said that the result on this track depends on whether we have managed to bring the tires within operating range. I was not able to do that during qualifying. In the first, second and third parts of qualifying we saw that several teams were sometimes very fast, and sometimes they lacked speed.
I don’t know what I did wrong on my last attempt in the final, but my front tires didn’t work at all. It’s disappointing, but all things considered it’s not a bad day. I start ahead of both McLaren drivers and that’s good.
This year the Mercedes car is loading the tires very aggressively, leading to greater degradation of the rubber. But on this track it helps them because they warm up the tires faster than us.
I’m disappointed in myself because I could have gotten the tires in better range, but like I said, I don’t know what I did wrong. The fact is that the tires were not ready for the start of the fast lap. But our race pace and the degradation of our long-distance tires should be among the best.”
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
