Sainz Jr: “The best of my races”

Carlos Sainz Jr offered to McLaren his first podium in 5 seasons by recovering 3rd place at the Brazilian GP after Lewis Hamilton's penalty (Mercedes). The Spaniard, however, started from the back of the grid after experiencing power losses on his Power Unit in Q1.

The son of the former champion WRC of the same name took advantage of an aggressive one-stop strategy and made the necessary overtakes to find themselves at the front.

“It was clearly the best of my races, confessed the Hispanic pilot, because it was a normal race contested in the dry with one or two stop strategies. We chose to stop only once. I had to make the necessary overtakes in the first laps and I succeeded. I am particularly satisfied with my maneuver on Pérez (Racing Point) and I then had to preserve my tires by extending the life of my soft compounds. »

“I then had to deal with the mediums and I managed to overtake Stroll (Racing Point), then Lando (Norris, his teammate) and other drivers. I suddenly found myself in 8th place when we had the choice of whether or not to enter the pits (after the entry of the safety car) and we decided to stay on the track. We made a bet for once and it turned out to be a winner. I had the most complicated restarts of my career with these two safety cars”,he added.

Carlos Sainz Jr is tied on points with Pierre Gasly (Toro Rosso) who also celebrated his first podium in F1 in Interlagos.

Discover the analysis of the Brazilian GP carried out by our special correspondents in AUTO issue 2443hebdo, available now in digital version on all platforms, and on newsstands this Wednesday.