Sainz 'not in a great place' as qualifying approaches

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz says he is struggling to extract optimal one-lap pace from his car ahead of qualifying for the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Spaniard's teammate, Charles Leclerc, in equal F1-75 machinery, put in a time half-a-second faster than his during Friday's second practice session.

That left Leclerc addressing the media filled with positivity on Friday evening, while Sainz was left criticising his own driving.

Sainz left with homework to do

Reflecting on the opening day of action, Sainz said: "I think it's been a positive start for the team. We're reconfirming the good feeling that we had since testing.

"From my side, honestly, FP2 was quite tough. I still don't understand fully the car in the short runs. I'm struggling with the front tyre, with the warm-up and with a lot of mid-corner understeer.

"I'm still not driving it the way I should, in an ideal manner, so there's quite a bit of homework to do.

"I need to work and make sure that I find some lap time for tomorrow."

Will Ferrari be in the fight for pole position?

Despite Ferrari's impressive pace, Max Verstappen and Red Bull took the top spot during Friday evening's FP2 session.

Sainz is confident, though, that he and Ferrari can unlock some extra performance ahead of the shootout for pole position.

"I think I know where we need to work on, and I know which areas we need to improve, and hopefully we can take the right steps going into tomorrow and take actually a step forward," Sainz continued.

"At the moment, I'm not entirely happy, and I'm not in a great place with the driving and the feeling with the front tyres."