Carlos Sainz was left “very happy” with his podium result at the Japanese Grand Prix, having expected P3 to be “difficult” to achieve earlier in the race as he battled with the likes of Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
After starting from P4 and P8 on the grid respectively, Sainz and Leclerc ran split strategies during the event, with Sainz making two visits to the pits while Leclerc made a one-stop plan work.
With this following on from his win last time out in Australia, Sainz spoke positively about his performance at Suzuka after jumping out of the car.
“I had a good race to be honest,” he commented.
“Very happy because it was quite tough out there with the degradation, but then suddenly the clouds came, the degradation went a lot lower, and suddenly I thought that maybe one-stop was quicker and we were on the two.
Carlos Sainz was left “very happy” with his podium result at the Japanese Grand Prix, having expected P3 to be “difficult” to achieve earlier in the race as he battled with the likes of Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc and McLaren’s Lando Norris.
After starting from P4 and P8 on the grid respectively, Sainz and Leclerc ran split strategies during the event, with Sainz making two visits to the pits while Leclerc made a one-stop plan work.
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While Sainz initially feared that his strategy might not be as effective, the Spaniard enjoyed a strong race in which he completed several overtakes – including a move on Leclerc in the latter stages to take the final spot on the rostrum.
With this following on from his win last time out in Australia, Sainz spoke positively about his performance at Suzuka after jumping out of the car.
“I had a good race to be honest,” he commented. “Very happy because it was quite tough out there with the degradation, but then suddenly the clouds came, the degradation went a lot lower, and suddenly I thought that maybe one-stop was quicker and we were on the two.
