“I will fight for the podium, it’s just a stone’s throw away”

Carlos Sainz Tomorrow he will leave fourth. The Madrid native signs a great contract Bahrain Grand Prix and he has clear runway options this Saturday. This is what the 55 is aiming for in the opening round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

IN DAZN, the Scuderia driver showed off his ambitious profile. “I believe that we can qualify for the podium. I’ll start fourth and do my best. We have to fight for the podium, which I think is quite achievable.. Yes, it’s true, switching to a Mercedes will not be easy. It will be difficult to race with them and with the McLarens. A priori, this will be a very intensive test. On the other hand, we came from the dirty side and here it is not ideal. So we need to get a good start and move forward in the race,” he stressed.

The Ferrari driver believes he needs enough to go higher. “It was just more than a tenth for me. I think what’s strange is that it didn’t improve from the second quarter into the third quarter. Usually we always find two or three tenths per chain.. Especially on the second lap I did it very calmly, saving the tires for tomorrow and not risking anything. I just want to get into the third part of qualifying and save the tyre. And then, when I went on the attack in the third quarter, we didn’t find those two or three tenths that we usually find. So this is something that we need to analyze and understand something from Q3. Because if you had told me before the second quarter what the weather would be like, I would have told you that the temperature would be below 29, and the temperature below 29 never came.“, said the Spanish participant.

Tire degradation

“We’ve improved the degradation aspect, but Red Bull is a good option.

. Our improved. I think we should now turn our attention to Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren – the cars we have to fight with tomorrow. Checo Perez will start on the clean side with the new wheels and it will be very difficult to keep him behind. Our race will be with George, with Checo if we can stand him, and also with Mercedes and McLaren. Yesterday we saw ten laps in a row, tomorrow we will do almost 15 or 20 per train, and that’s where we will see who is degrading and who is not.”

How do you see Aston Martin

“I think that on the last day of testing, Aston Martins were already very fast.. I think on the last day of testing and yesterday, when you see the times that Fernando Alonso put in, you can see that they have improved and that they are there. There are five teams that are within two tenths. I think Max will stand out more in the race, but there are five teams within one lap and it will be very close at the beginning of the year.”

Verstappen is the clear favorite

“I think if Max fails, we can bet on winning. If Verstappen doesn’t fail, things will be very difficult.. He has new tires and is the first to leave. “I think we haven’t seen Red Bull fail for a long time, but whatever lies behind it can be overcome and that’s what we’re going to strive for.”