“To be even fighting for the pole position today” – Carlos Sainz pleasantly surprised with Bahrain GP P3; rues missing out on pole to Charles Leclerc

“To be even fighting for the pole position today” – Carlos Sainz is delighted with the Ferrari 1-3 in Bahrain qualifying, but slighly disappointed on missing out on pole to teammate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari is back, and how!

After a torrid more than a decade of seeing themselves lose out to Red Bull and then Mercedes, the tifosi seem to be back to their very best, starting with the Bahrain Grand Prix.

They looked strong during Bahrain testing, and have added to that in qualifying, with both drivers qualifying for tomorrow’s race in the top three. This is especially huge for Carlos Sainz, who admitted he is finding it difficult to cope with the dramatically-altered 2022 car.

“Really struggling with this car to understand how to drive it. I am thinking a lot while driving and that takes up space.

“I have been half a second behind all weekend. The problem is I’ve never been so far behind.”

Carlos Sainz happy for pole-sitter Charles Leclerc

Sainz saw Charles Leclerc grabbing pole, the latter beating reigning champion Max Verstappen to it. The Spaniard is disappointed, but at the same time delighted for his teammate.

“There was an extra tenth that Charles managed to extract there at the end. Last year I was at the max a couple of tenths, this weekend I had to fight a 7-8 tenth deficit.

“I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve done throughout the weekend. To be even fighting for the pole position today was good news for me.

“I think Charles has been ahead the whole weekend and he deserved the pole position, and the team did such a great job.”

Also Read “It feels good, the last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team” – Charles Leclerc is on the pole position at the Bahrain Grand Prix