Carlos Sainz believes he did enough laps to take pole position at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, but believes he will still face a stiff challenge to finish on the podium on Saturday night.
The Williams driver took provisional pole position with his last attempt at the end of Q3, but was overtaken by Max Verstappen, before Lando Norris opened up a gap of 0.3 seconds to the two cars in wet conditions. Sainz said he dared to dream of taking pole before he realized how many cars had yet to complete a lap, but was confident he could get a good grid position through qualifying.
“It was a very good lap,” Sainz said. “I thought it was a lap that deserved the pole. When I finished the lap, I could see I was in first place, and then I realized I was the first car to cross the flag. It probably didn’t last long because these two guys were going to be behind me, but I felt like it was a really good qualifying.”
“If anything, I think we were more competitive with the Extreme Wet (tyres) in Q1 and Q2. I wish we had stayed with the wet tires because they gave us the best feeling and the most confidence. Every time we hit the board, we were first.”
“But at Inter, we didn’t perform well in FP3, so we expected it to be slower, but in the end it turned out to be OK. But in the end we couldn’t get[pole position].”
“We had a good feeling (throughout the weekend). But it was very chaotic and we didn’t show ourselves at the best times or show our pace. Obviously in the dry, I don’t think we could have gotten better than sixth, fifth, seventh, eighth in that range.”
“The wet allowed us to shine a little bit more and lead the stages in Q1, Q2 and Q3. I don’t think that would have been possible in the dry and I don’t expect to be able to maintain third if the race was dry. But I think we were definitely faster in the wet.”
Sainz said he did not expect either of the top two to be particularly cautious, as Norris and Verstappen share the front row and the Dutchman needs to break into the title race.
“I think it’s more about the pace than the risk that everyone is willing to accept. I’m also starting at the front and it would be a pretty good result if I could take it home. So I think we’re all in more or less similar positions.”
“For me, it’s more important to try to maintain that P3 if I can, considering we have a very fast car behind us, along with Mercedes, which was strong in the dry, and the other McLarens and Ferraris. So I’m going to do my best.”
“You saw me in Baku and in Austin. When I’m fighting for a podium, I just try not to make mistakes and see if I can go as wide as possible and see if I can bring home a stronger result than expected. And I’m going to push to make that happen.”
