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Carlos Sainz is not giving much thought to Max Verstappen's starting position for the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP. The Spaniard is admittedly focused solely on trying to win the race for Ferrari.
Sainz put on a show in mixed conditions at the Hungaroring to snatch provisional pole position ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc. The Spaniard, however, was spectacularly denied his second pole of the season by Mercedes' George Russell.
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Ferrari's afternoon was made slightly better by the fact that both Red Bull cars faltered during qualifying. Sergio Perez was unable to get out of Q2 while a late power loss scuppered Max Verstappen's chances. The Dutchman will start the race in P10 with his teammate Perez in P11.
Speaking to the media in the post-session press conference at the Hungaroring, Carlos Sainz was asked if he felt secure knowing Max Verstappen's lowly starting position for the race on Sunday. The Ferrari driver said:
“I don’t know if it’s safe, I don’t know what do you mean by safe, but I think tomorrow our target is to win the race not focus too much where Max is because we know that if we want to get points in the championship, the easiest way to do that is by winning so independent of where Max is we want to go for that win.”
His teammate Charles Leclerc, who will start from P3, was also of a similar opinion. The Monegasque driver said:
“I think we’ll try and go for the win. And, and yeah, Max is starting tenth so it might take him a bit more laps to come back to the front but we’ll just focus on ourselves and try to win the race.”
Carlos Sainz expects his performances to improve in the second half of 2022 F1 season
Carlos Sainz believes the best is yet to come from him after pointing out that he has a track record of finishing seasons stronger than when he started them.
The Spaniard is currently 26 points behind his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc after the latter's inopportune DNF at the 2022 F1 French GP.
When asked if he thought he could be the top Ferrari driver for the second year running, Sainz said:
“I say let’s see at the end of the year. I think it’s still early. It was early when I was when I finished P2 in Bahrain and everyone said it’s going to be an easy walk in the park for Ferrari. I said it when I was in my low moment in Barcelona after the spin in the race, and I said no, that is too early still.”
The 27-year-old added, saying:
“I understand people that say that because it hasn’t been my easiest start of the season, but if you look closely to my last four or five seasons in Formula 1, I’ve always peaked in a second half and I’ve always done a very strong second half of the season. So let’s wait and see.”
Carlos Sainz was resurgent in the second half of his debut campaign with Ferrari. The Spaniard was able to pip Charles Leclerc to P5 in the World Drivers' Championship standings with a podium finish in the 2021 season finale.
While he is backing himself to improve for the remainder of 2022, Sainz has also said that he is willing to put individual glory aside for Ferrari and Leclerc's title bids this year.
