Sainz hoping sprint format will compensate for Qatar struggles

Carlos Sainz has stated he is hopeful that the shake-up of the weekend format in Qatar will combat the troubles Ferrari is anticipating for the event.

This weekend, the schedule will run under the F1 Sprint format with just one practice session being held ahead of the competitive sessions.

The track is not expected to suit the Ferrari squad, who struggled last time out in Japan after securing the only non-Red Bull win this year in Singapore the race before.

Ferrari has suffered from high tyre degradation throughout the campaign, while its drivers have also noted the unpredictable nature of the car through corners.

The Italian squad brought a new floor to Japan, but Sainz has said that it is too early to know if it will solve its problems.

Sainz's sprint hope

Speaking to media including RacingNews365.com ahead of the weekend, Sainz admitted that he anticipates that the track layout will not favour Ferrari.

However, he is hopeful that it can capitalise on the alternative format and catch its rivals out during the weekend.

“I think you can see with our car, it’s a bit like that, how we can go in Singapore from winning the race to in Japan being 40 or 50 seconds of the race leader,” he said.

“It's how it goes this year for us. Long combined corners again here [like] in Japan and most of them at medium speed which we know is our weakness.

“I don't care, if the car is there to P7 on Sunday I want to P7. If the car is there to be P3, I want to be P3.

“We'll see how it comes. At the same time we're a team that normally performs well on sprint weekends. So hopefully that compensates for the track characteristics.”