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Carlos Sainz is convinced that he will also have “good moments” in 2022 after a tricky Australian GP weekend put an end to his 17-race-long point-scoring streak.
The Ferrari driver says he expects things to go his way this season as he gets more and more comfortable with his car. Speaking to Motorsport Italia ahead of the 2022 F1 Imola GP, the Spaniard said:
“Considering the room for improvement that I still have available in my adaptation process, and some help that can come from the ‘setup’ front, I am convinced that the good moments will come too, I don’t know if tomorrow or in a few races, but they will come.”
Carlos Sainz has had a poor start to the season this year, oftentimes struggling to match teammate Charles Leclerc's pace. Despite struggling for balance throughout free practice in Melbourne, he managed to sort out his issues by qualifying and seemed on pace to threaten his teammate for pole.
An ill-timed track incident, however, meant that his lap was nullified just as he was crossing the finish line on his first Q3 attempt. A scruffy lap later in the session meant he started the race at the tail end of the top ten. The decision to start the race on hard tires didn’t turn out the way Ferrari expected either, as he beached himself on lap three while trying to claw back lost positions.
Carlos Sainz "working hard to put himself in the right position" despite lack of “natural feeling”
Carlos Sainz says he lacks the “natural feeling” that his teammate Charles Leclerc seems to have with the F1-75. The Spaniard believes he still has a lot of room for improvement and expects to get better over the season. He, however, claimed that he has always worked hard to ensure that he is in the right place during qualifying, saying:
“In Melbourne I felt good from the first laps of the FP1 session, while in the previous stages I had to work harder to get to that level of feeling. But beyond the problems, in all the Q3s raced this year I confirmed myself in the lead after the first ‘run’, even though the car did not allow me to drive it as I wanted.”
Sainz’s struggles meant he trailed championship protagonists Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen during the first two rounds of the season. His DNF in Australia knocked him down the pecking order, leaving him with a significant gap to overcome against his teammate.
With his late crash in qualifying for the 2022 F1 Imola GP, Sainz’s woes seem to continue. He now faces an uphill battle during the Sprint race to get himself in contention for the main race on Sunday.
