The weather favored Sainz and Toro Rosso

16th time of the last free practice session of the Hungarian Grand Prix yesterday morning, Carlos Sainz was probably not hoping to end his day on Saturday with a sixth place at the end of a qualifying session with a twisted scenario at the Hungaroring.

The arrival of rain largely redistributed the cards and allowed the Spanish driver of the Toro Rosso STR11 n°55 to advance into Q3 and achieve one of his best career qualifications. “What a session and what a result… It’s such a feeling, confesses the son of the double world rally champion.

To be honest, this morning we thought we weren't even going to make it to Q3 given our pace in practice but suddenly everything changed. This was probably the hardest qualifying session of my career : making the right choice of tires, which trajectory to take, seeing where it was dry and where it was still wet, cooling the tires, then heating them... it was very, very difficult. »

The former Formula champion Renault 3.5 believes that the weather conditions clearly favored the Faenza team, but hopes to be able to make this Sunday's race a reality, so as not to be left with this certainly encouraging result.

“I felt a lot more comfortable in the car and surely the rain and cooler conditions helped. But we were in the right place at the right time every time and we ended up in a great position. I just hope that in the race we can maintain the very good feeling from the car that we found in qualifying. »

Sainz saved Toro Rosso's afternoon, since Daniil Kvyat, only 12th in qualifying, was unable to catch up with his teammate. The Russian notably complained of having been hampered by Jenson Button in Q2 after being delayed in his pit by a lack of responsiveness from his team. “ We were too slow to put on the slick tires, which were not ready when I arrived in the pits and I waited too long, before getting caught in traffic. lamented the former pilot Red Bull Racing.