Carlos Sainz signs his best result in front of his home crowd
Carlos Sainz was very pleased with his 6th place, the best result of his F1 career. Daniil Kvyat finished 10th, but with the fastest lap of the race.
Carlos Sainz was the surprise guest at the start of the race. Already the author of a promising qualifying session, the young Spaniard made perfect use of his 8th place on the grid to move up the pack at the start. Indeed, once the two Mercedes eliminated each other, he found himself in third position, just behind the two Red Bulls.
He then tried to keep the two Ferraris behind him but eventually had to relent. However, he was still able to enjoy those laps fighting for a podium position: « The race start was fantastic. I think I had one of the best starts of my life, to be honest, being in a podium position, battling with Ferrari… Those first laps were really enjoyable! »
The rest of the race went well for him, and he was able to bring his Toro Rosso to a fine sixth-place finish, his best career result: « What a fantastic race! We finally managed to have a complete weekend: we had a productive Friday, were fast in qualifying, and had good race pace during today’s race. So I’m a happy man! 6th is a fantastic result for me and the team. Achieving it for my home race makes it even better. »
On the other hand, Daniil Kvyat’s race was more mixed. Indeed, the Russian suffered a setback during the restart when he had to give back two positions he had gained under the safety regime: « We had to give back two places at the restart, which made us lose time. »
But his pace in the race was good enough to allow him to comfortably follow Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo, who were in a fierce battle for the third step on the podium. He also took the opportunity to overtake Esteban Gutierrez when they were lapped, allowing him to get back into the points: « The second half of the race was fun, following the winners without interrupting their battle. I was able to overtake Gutierrez and get back into the points. »
If his return to Toro Rosso was not as good as he hoped, he can still be satisfied with scoring a good point and achieving his first fastest lap in the race.
