"Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day," says Carlos Sainz after securing P3 at 2022 F1 Dutch GP qualifying

After setting the third-fastest lap time in Saturday's qualifying ahead of the 2022 F1 Dutch Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz is set to start the main race in the second row behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen and his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

The Spaniard had a rather disappointing outing in Q1, where he just about made it to the next session. The Ferraris, however, quickly picked up their pace and now find themselves at the front of the pack, hoping to end Verstappen's winning streak.

In a post-qualifying media interaction, Carlos Sainz expressed content with his Saturday in Zandvoort, saying:

“It was a clean lap with no mistakes, just missing that last half a tenth to a tenth to beat Charles and Max. It was on the limit out there, every little metre of track that you could use and that you could push was counting. It wasn’t an easy qualy, but I think in the end we did a decent job.”

Carlos Sainz added:

“I think tomorrow it’s going to be an interesting day. There’s going to be a lot going on, even if it’s a difficult track to overtake, there’s still going to be many options with strategies.”

Towards the end of Carlos Sainz's final flying lap, Sergio Perez's incident brought out the yellow flag. This denied all other drivers in Q3 the chance to fight Max Verstappen for pole, securing all positions in qualifying before the intended end of the session. Mercedes, in particular, seemed poised to fight for a front-row start in the race, although Perez's incident only allowed for a P4 and P6 start for Lewis Hamilton and George Russell respectively.

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Carlos Sainz describes Ferrari's strategies as "difficult to generalise"

Ferrari have received plenty of criticism for their questionable strategies over the past few months. Carlos Sainz, however, has defended the team, emphasizing that he simply wants to focus on improving for the future.

In a press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Dutch Grand Prix, Sainz admitted that he chose to focus on "continuous improvement" rather than dwell on what could or should have been done in the past. He said:

“It’s very difficult to generalise, saying we should have been more brave or more cautious. You would need to pick one by one and analyse them independently. I’m pretty sure one by one, every result or every conclusion will be different. Maybe we could have been a bit more gutsy here, we could have played a bit more safe here. For me, it’s all about continuous improvement and continuous[ly] finding ways to make the right calls at the right time.”

Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto also claimed that fans often perceive some of the team's strategies as mistakes when they are often not. The Italian said:

“If I look back at the season, I think there are a lot of perceptions from outside compared to what are the true and the reality. I think sometimes we are not doing mistakes when it may have been perceived as a mistake.”

Despite leading the championship at the start of the year, Ferrari now find themselves second in the constructors' standings, with a mere 41-point advantage over Mercedes, who are quickly closing the gap to the Scuderia.