Sainz did well in qualifying, coming in fifth place, while his teammate Charles Leclerc was in seventh. The Ferraris had a tough time warming up their tires when it started raining at the end of Friday’s sprint qualifying.
Leclerc had a bit of trouble when it started raining. He went off the track, bending his steering. Sainz said the same thing could have happened to him too.
“We had to wait a long time to go out with the intermediate tires. They got cold, and then Charles and I had a hard time warming them up on the outlap,” Sainz explained. “I was lucky not to spin out like Charles did.
“We couldn’t do well in the third part of the qualifying, but I think getting fifth place saved the day. This track is tough to get used to quickly, especially for qualifying.”
Because there wasn’t much practice time in Shanghai, Sainz couldn’t set up his SF24 like he wanted, even in dry conditions.
He doesn’t have high hopes for the sprint race on Saturday morning, which is expected to be dry. But the good news is that teams can work on their cars again before the grand prix qualifying later.
“The sprint race is in the morning, then we can make changes to the car,” he said. “I want to make a few adjustments because I don’t feel comfortable.
“I have some ideas to make the car better for qualifying. In the sprint race, we’ll have to work with what we have and fight from fifth place.”
Team boss Fred Vasseur hopes their strategy with tires in practice pays off in the sprint race.
“We were the only team that kept an extra set of medium and hard tires this morning,” he told Sky Sports Italy. “We still have a new set of medium tires for tomorrow, while our rivals have to use used ones. This gives us more options for tires tomorrow.
“But like everyone else, we’re unsure. It’s a tough choice with little practice. We have to choose the right tires tonight, considering they’ll be crucial for Sunday’s race.”
Explaining his mistake, Leclerc said, “It was hard to warm up the tires. I tried to push a bit, but I lost control at Turn 8. That messed up our qualifying a bit because the steering was off. But all in all, there wasn’t much more we could have done.”
