Sainz still slowed down by cooling problems

McLaren has not yet found the key to dropping temperatures on the MCL35 driven by Carlos Sainz. After spotting this cooling problem at Silverstone last week, the Woking team made several changes to the Spaniard's car, starting with the introduction of a new chassis, initially planned for Spa-Francorchamps in 2 weeks. 

Even if Sainz climbed to 7th position during Free Practice 2 of his national grand prix, 1''331 behind the mercedes de Lewis Hamilton all the same, the Madrilenian affirms that the problem of cooling “ hasn't really been resolved ». 

« There are still differences between the two cars, added the future pilot Ferrari. My car needs more cooling, which costs quite a bit of lap time on such a circuit. We do not yet have full control of the situation. 

We have to keep digging because it's a real question mark at the moment. And this even though we changed almost everything on the car. We are starting to run out of options in stock. I hope we'll find out what's wrong, but it's complicated at the moment. ». 

Sainz also reports that tire management continues to be a headache for McLaren, even if the bubbling phenomenon seen at Silverstone appears to have disappeared. 

« The hard tire is the worst this weekend, it offers no grip, we don't know why, maybe because of the heat, said the Spaniard. We were skating a lot because the tire didn't grip on this tarmac. The soft one gave more satisfaction even if it deteriorated a lot. At least there's grip. We still have to finalize our strategy because at the moment we are heading towards a very complicated race ».

Clearly, the lights are orange at McLaren on this opening day in Catalonia.