Carlos Sainz admitted that he was "thrown off" by the track limits violations that took place during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, which will affect his run in the Sprint Shootout. FIA Race Control deleted a total of 47 laps, of which six were taken away from Sainz: one at Turn 6, three at Turn 9 and two at Turn 10. The lap time deletions meant Sainz had to use an extra set of tyres in Q2, which will affect his ability to run a new set in the final part of the Sprint Shootout. "I was a bit thrown off by track limits in Q2. I actually had to run again, we played it safe and we used an extra set," said Sainz. "Today I've used for my six sets of Soft [tyre] due to the track limits issue, so if I get to Q3 on a Soft tyre we'll use a scrubbed instead of a new which will put me definitely on the back foot." Under the Sprint Shootout rules drivers must use a set of Soft tyre for SQ3, however they do not need to be a brand new set. The FIA recently amended the rules to say any Soft tyre from a driver's weekend allocation can be used instead of a new set being saved.
Sainz: Overall feeling of car is good
Sainz was confident that Ferrari's latest updates designed to make the car more predictable for the drivers in the high-speed corners have worked, but is still reserving further judgement until they have completed a full race distance. He added: "Overall I was feeling strong with the car, feeling fast all day, which is good carry over from Canada. "It does feel quite a step better in the high-speed corners, which was our main limitation in Barcelona. "Now we will need to see our race pace, which we know can vary from track to track and we will make sure we try and put together the best possible race."
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