Sainz: "Hopefully we can still fight"

Carlos Sainz has said that his Toro Rosso team will have to work hard to find a compromise this weekend with their year-old Ferrari power units set to hamper them on the high-speed Baku City Circuit.

However, he stopped short of writing off his team's weekend, saying that the team performed strongly on the quick Circuit Gilles Villeneuve at last weekend' Canadian Grand Prix, so could potentially perform well in Azerbaijan this weekend.

"I don’t know, maybe we need to take off the rear wing! It could be a challenge for us, for sure," he said. "We will be working a lot on the set-up to try to find a good compromise but you know in Canada we were expecting to be weak and we were not at all weak, we actually had really good pace in the race, so it doesn’t mean that because of that long straight here we cannot compensate with our good car, our good package and be strong."

Although optimistic of a strong showing, the Spaniard conceded that the team will struggle to match their impressive pace from the Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix.

"Obviously we are not going to be as fast as in Monaco or Barcelona for sure," he admitted, "but hopefully we can still fight the teams that we are fighting now -  Force India, McLaren -  for those top ten positions.

nicovanos

Posts: 65

I disagree. He and Verstappen had some hard fights (on the track). Now that Kvyat is his team mate you can see how good of a driver he is.

  • 2
  • Jun 16 2016 - 23:05

Replies (4)

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  • To fight you need fighters.
    Sainz is a good driver but so far not a fighter during the races!

    • + 0
    • Jun 16 2016 - 19:39
    • nicovanos

      Posts: 65

      I disagree. He and Verstappen had some hard fights (on the track). Now that Kvyat is his team mate you can see how good of a driver he is.

      • + 2
      • Jun 16 2016 - 23:05
  • I've seen qualification fights between Sainz and Verstappen but in the race I never see Sainz really fight (perhaps he's just missing the missing quality)

    • + 0
    • Jun 17 2016 - 00:27
  • Vet5

    Posts: 225

    It doesn't help that the 4 manufacturers are upgrading the engines and STR are stuck with the same unit for the remaining season. They have a really good chassis but that wont help until the high downforce tracks. agree with you all though, Sainz isn't a fighter, he needs to change his driving style and take some risks, then teams will start to look and take a liking to him.

    • + 0
    • Jun 17 2016 - 11:01

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Date
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Bahrain
14 - Mar 16 2025
Australia
21 - Mar 23 2025
China
4 - Apr 6 2025
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11 - Apr 13 2025
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18 - Apr 20 2025
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25 - Jul 27 2025
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1 - Aug 3 2025
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29 - Aug 31 2025
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5 - Sep 7 2025
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19 - Sep 21 2025
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3 - Oct 5 2025
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17 - Oct 19 2025
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24 - Oct 26 2025
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7 - Nov 9 2025
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21 - Nov 23 2025
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28 - Nov 30 2025
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Formula 1 Calendar - 2025

Date
Grand Prix & Circuit
14 - Mar 16 2025
Australia Albert Park
21 - Mar 23 2025
4 - Apr 6 2025
11 - Apr 13 2025
18 - Apr 20 2025
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23 - May 25 2025
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13 - Jun 15 2025
27 - Jun 29 2025
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1 - Aug 3 2025
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3 - Oct 5 2025
17 - Oct 19 2025
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7 - Nov 9 2025
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  • Team Williams
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  • Grand Prix 232
  • Country ES
  • Date of b. Sep 1 1994 (31)
  • Place of b. Madrid, ES
  • Weight 66 kg
  • Length 1.78 m
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