“Everything that could go wrong in Q3 went wrong”– Carlos Sainz claims he had to make his final flying lap with freezing tyres

Carlos Sainz claims that he had to make his last flying lap of the qualifying under some unfavourable conditions in Australia.

Ferrari and Red Bull drivers were vying for the pole positions in Melbourne. In the end, Charles Leclerc managed to get a favourable position for the Tifosis.

But on the other end, Carlos Sainz couldn’t manage to breach the P9 mark. However, things could have been different if Fernando Alonso hadn’t crashed and caused a red flag.

At that time, the momentum was with Sainz, as he was projecting a promising pole. But after that, Ferrari had to go back to the pit, and Sainz explains how tough things became, especially while warming his tyres.

“We had a problem with the starter. The car wouldn’t start, we went out three minutes later than when we were planning to go out,” said Sainz during his post-qualifying interview.

“I couldn’t prepare the tyres, I couldn’t warm up the tyres, everything was rushed and I had to do the lap with freezing tyres. It was a horrible lap. Everything that could go wrong in Q3 went wrong, especially because I was in the fight for pole position for the whole of quali.”

Also read: Max Verstappen thinks Ferrari are strong but remains confident that Red Bull will take the fight to the top

Carlos Sainz needs to prevent Red Bull from catching up

The Ferrari driver needs to keep Red Bull at a distance by the end of this race weekend. The Maranello based team got an early edge in the season when their rivals scored a blank in Bahrain.

But with a win and P4 in Saudi Arabia, Red Bull is catching up. And if Red Bull scores a double podium, it would be a big hit to Ferrari in the lead.

Thus, Sainz would be required to buckle up quickly behind the four-time-world champions. But it would be quite a challenge to outpace McLaren and Alpine, who showed better performance this weekend.

It could have been easier for the Spaniard to jump over the midfield if there were four DRS zones at the Albert Park. But on Saturday, during the FP3, it was announced that the DRS zone between the turn 8 and 9 had been removed for safety precautions.

Also read: Lando Norris relieved to see ‘partner’ Mercedes knocked off their perch by Red Bull and Ferrari