Sainz issues Ferrari battle cry after Las Vegas surprise

Carlos Sainz has rallied Ferrari in its constructors' championship bid following a surprise P2 on the grid at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

Ferrari's one-lap pace was not expected to put it in contention for pole, but Sainz was only pipped by 0.098s by George Russell, with the Spanish driver starting second and Charles Leclerc fourth in the sister machine.

Ferrari trails McLaren by 36 points in the constructors', with Lando Norris sixth and Oscar Piastri only eighth. 

Given the results - Sainz is determined to add a third grand prix of the season to his tally to pile the pressure on McLaren.

"We need wins to beat McLaren [to the constructors' championship], it is not like we can afford to just be in front of them because they have a big gap in the championship," he said.

"We are going to Qatar next which will not be a good track for us - we will struggle there.

"We need to win, so it is not that it changes my approach."

"That was a tough, tight quali, and I was a bit closer to pole than I was expecting, I thought I had it and then George came in very quick at the end."

Sainz is confident that the strong race pace from the Scuderia could play to its strengths, but felt that the Saturday night race will be a "clean sheet" with cars laden with fuel.

"I was P2 last year, but was P12 on the grid because of the famous drain cover, and this year I start P2, so hopefully we can make a better one," he said.

"We need to stay confident that we can be fighting at the front even more than today, so if we are close in qualifying, we might have a chance at the win, and that will be the target.

"Mercedes was very good at switching its tyres on, you only need to see Sector 1, they were flying and we were coming back as the lap was going on, but tomorrow is a clean sheet, a new start and let's see how the car behaves on high-fuel."