Sainz points to Verstappen hindrance after Ferrari 'reality check'

Carlos Sainz has explained how Max Verstappen inadvertently hindered Ferrari during sprint qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race.

After setting a blistering pace in the sole practice session, both Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc were comprehensively out-performed in sprint qualifying, taking fourth and fifth on the grid, nearly three-tenths behind pole-sitter Lando Norris.

Leclerc felt Ferrari was "coming back to reality" following the quick practice pace as Sainz had a difficult SQ3 session, which included the abandonment of his first flying lap, partly due to Verstappen's slow Red Bull, who ultimately qualified in sixth place.

"Unfortunately, we had a situation where I went into Sector 1 and Sector 2 with Max in front, and he was preparing his tyres, so I had quite a bit of dirty air following him around," Sainz explained.

"On top of that, the car balance was just off, we picked up a lot of understeer on the medium tyre, which meant we were just simply struggling to turn the car, then I needed to cool the tyres for a couple of laps. 

"When I went again, the understeer balance was still there, but I needed to put a lap in, it was enough for P4.

"It was not easy under pressure, but with the balance of understeering off track, it was quite easy to get a track limit, but we got it done."

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As for the lack of pace from practice to sprint qualifying, Sainz cautioned against reading too much into practice pace, especially when there are too many unknown variables.

"I never try and read too much into FP1 because you never know what the fuel loads and engines modes the others are running," he said.

"But the good news is that the car was feeling better in terms of balance than expected. 

"But we went into quali still worried that our rivals could be quicker here, and that is what we saw. 

"We didn't maximise our package, and even though our lap was clean, it was a lap with a lot of understeer in the car, I just basically couldn't turn the car for the whole lap."