0
Carlos Sainz crossed the line in seventh place in Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix, heading into the summer break on a high. The result was the third time he's come in seventh this season, only going better once this year in Monaco, where he drove to a sixth place finish.
The Spaniard qualified in tenth but started one position higher due to a grid penalty for Nico Hulkenberg, A strong start meant he passed both McLaren's and was even eyeing up a pass on Lewis Hamilton before deciding to relax a bit and think about the 70 laps ahead.
Mercedes Threatens Legal Action as Engine War Erupts Before Season Start
Toto Wolff Hints Mercedes No Longer Needs Verstappen
He spent much of the race ahead of compatriot Fernando Alonso and the two got very close in the pit lane as they came in for fresh tyres on the very same lap. However, he couldn't hold him off for the whole race as Alonso got by at Turn 1 a number of laps later. Nevertheless, Sainz still considers his day a job well done.
"A great race! I managed to do a very good start, went around the outside of both McLarens into Turn 1 and held onto my position into Turn 2. At this point, I saw that maybe I was also capable of getting a Mercedes, but I decided to back-off a bit and play it safe because the work was done.
"From then onwards it was a very tough task to defend from Fernando, as he was much faster than us today. In the end he got past us but I’m happy to have been able to hold on to that seventh position. For us this is like gold at the moment! All in all, it’s been a very positive weekend with a perfect Quali yesterday, a fantastic start and race today.
"I can now go on holiday happy and very satisfied with my first half of the season – I’ve ended up in the points in every race I’ve finished up until now, which is a good statistic to hold onto, and I’m enjoying this mid-field battle. I look forward to the second half of the year."
Fergal Walsh
Azerbaijan Grand Prix
C. Sainz jr
78 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (0)
Login to reply