Sainz blames Sprint format for 'damage limitation' weekend at Baku

Carlos Sainz says he is on a "damage limitation" weekend due to the Sprint format, which he believes prevents drivers from being able to make setup changes.

After admitting to "trailing" yesterday, Sainz could only manage P5 for the Sprint race when teammate Charles Leclerc made an error on his final lap that prevented him from improving.

George Russell will start ahead of him in P4, but Sainz still believes that he is struggling in areas including the brakes.

"I keep struggling with the car, with my feeling, kept struggling on the brakes, so clearly lacking this weekend," he said to media.

"A bit of a damage limitation weekend for me because I'm clearly not not feeling at home."

Sainz: No time to go through data with this format

Sainz has blamed the new weekend format, that includes an extra qualifying session for the Sprint race, for the reasons why he is unable to improve his form.

Drivers only had one hour of practice on Friday, which was shortened to 40 minutes when a red flag came out for Pierre Gasly's car catching fire.

With all the cars in Parc Ferme from after qualifying for the Grand Prix, teams are unable to make any setup changes.

"We have no time to really go through a data and put together some changes with this format," explains Sainz.

"I'm just clearly lacking and the compromises of this format is that if there is something wrong or there's direction that is not working, you don't have time to change it."