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Ferrari have proven to be one of the strongest contenders in the 2022 season so far. Its driver Carlos Sainz qualified behind team-mate Charles Leclerc, who took the first pole of the season. Sainz, however, was not very happy about the gap to his team-mate in the qualifying session on Saturday, claiming that Leclerc deserved the pole for a much better performance delivered throughout the weekend.
In a post-qualifying interview, the Spaniard reflected on the qualifying session, saying:
“It’s the reality. I think I’ve been more than half a second behind Charles [Leclerc] all weekend. It is something that has got me a bit by surprise. I’ve never been so far away.”
Speaking about his shot at a maiden pole position, the 27-year-old said:
“There was an extra tenth that Charles managed to extract there at the end. Last year I was at the max a couple of tenths, this weekend I had to fight a 7-8 tenth deficit. I’m quite happy with the progress I’ve done throughout the weekend. To be even fighting for the pole position today was good news for me. I think Charles has been ahead the whole weekend and he deserved the pole position, and the team did such a great job.”
The Spaniard will be starting the main race on the Sakhir circuit behind reigning world champion Max Verstappen from third place, ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez.
Carlos Sainz claims he is still facing difficulty in understanding his 2022 challenger
Carlos Sainz claimed that the fact that he was in a position to fight for pole on Saturday was good enough for him, given his difficulty with fully understanding the car.
As reported by PlanetF1, he said:
“I just don’t understand the car fully yet. I’m thinking a lot while driving and this takes a bit of space out of my head while driving, but at the same time I was in the fight for pole position so I can’t complain too much.”
The 27-year-old has been behind his team-mate all weekend in Bahrain and qualified in third, despite possibly having a shot at a Ferrari front-row lockout.
