Sainz's best race with Ferrari: how to recover 11 positions despite a terrible pit stop

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mood

after his fantastic comeback yesterday in Istanbul fit into one of those phrases that any rookie at Ferrari dreams of uttering. "I'm starting to have a lot of fun with the car and understand it better," said the Spaniard after being voted best driver of the day by the fans. His eighth place at the finish line was a well-deserved reward for one of the most difficult weekends of the year, in which an engine change had relegated him to the penultimate position on the grid.

However, Sainz's fierceness was evident from the start, with an intense heads-up against

and a highly commendable overtaking against

. When 13 laps had not yet been completed, he was already in the points area. He got there thanks to a maneuver in front of

on the inside of Turn 12. "I have apologized because I was too optimistic, but it was the only way to pass a car with a Mercedes engine," he said.

Of course, the consistency that Sainz has shown, installed in the top-10 during the last nine races, is reflected in the World Championship table, where he still leads

, even if only by half a point.

A background of great merit for his first course in Maranello, where he has had to face several difficulties.

Perhaps the most negative is the one that affects the slowness of his pit stops, as was evident again yesterday at Istanbul Park.

Back behind Ocon

On lap 36, the Scuderia mechanics took 8.1 seconds to change the tires. "We made the stop in a normal time and the problem was caused by the manual light signal," admitted

, head of Ferrari, who will spend the next few days analyzing the glaring error in his garage. If not for that, Sainz would have had options to fight

,

and

for fifth place. However, on his return to the asphalt, Carlos had to face eight laps behind

, whom he had previously surpassed, but who was now working as a stopper again due to heavily worn tires.

When he was finally able to get rid of Alpine's Frenchman, the red SF-21 once again delivered the best of its potential and Sainz linked up to three fastest laps to stop the clock at 1: 31.921.

With nine laps still ahead, only the progression of

, great dominator throughout yesterday afternoon, snatched the extra point from Carlos.

"We must continue like this"

“It was one of the fastest cars on the track, if not the fastest.

When you have the rhythm and the circuit lets you overtake, you have a great time in the rain.

It has been one of my best races and probably the most complete of this season, ”acknowledged Sainz, who faces the final stretch of the championship with a new engine under the hood and with all the illusion of being on the podium for the fourth time.

The third place from two weeks ago in Sochi may be just a preview of what awaits in the last six appointments.

"These two races have been very good and we must continue like this," wished the former Renault and Toro Rosso driver, who will continue to reconcile this end of the course with the work for 2022, the expected course of the regulatory revolution.

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Know more

• sports

• Formula 1

• Carlos Sainz Jr

• Fernando Alonso

• Sebastian vettel

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