(Motorsport-Entire.com) – Imagine riding on the podium for the first time in Formula 1 – and then you can not even stand on it. That's what happened to Carlos Sainz on Sunday at the Brazilian Grand Prix. The McLaren driver celebrated a surprising third place, but was not allowed to squirt with champagne, because at that time Lewis Hamilton still third struggle.
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McLaren celebrated Carlos Sainz without further ado on the podium Zoom
Only later was Sainz the third place and thus awarded the first top-3 result of his career. “The struggle is a special ticket for me and the team,” he cheers. “We did everything right, everything we used to be poke in our hands, we did well.”
Used to make the result even more surprising: Sainz struggle the race after his engine change approached from the very back . But with the motto “Maximum Attack” and a perfectly implemented one-stop strategy, Sainz fought his way through the field and clinched the first podium for McLaren since (2). Basis
“The struggle is my best performance,” he says proudly. “Definitely.” Because Sao Paulo struggle no crazy rain race. It was even a pretty monotonous race until the first safety vehicle, in which Sainz was still able to excel. For when Bernd Mayländer first came out, the Spaniard had already worked his way up from eighth place to the front.
For this he had to show some spectacular maneuvers, like that against Sergio Perez on lap 5. At the last second Sainz struck in turn 1 in and overtook the Racing Point in a convincing manner. The Williams or the Alfa Romeos were also victims. “I had to do the moves in the first laps – and I do,” he says proudly.
But not only Sainz's overtaking skills were in demand as McLaren put him on a pit stop. After the maneuvers, he had to keep up with the tires – first on Tender, then on medium. And in between he had to overtake opponents such as Lance Stroll or teammate Lando Norris. “And suddenly I'm eighth,” says Sainz
“The most difficult restarts of my life”
When the safety vehicle came, McLaren had to decide: Can you get Sainz to the field or not? “We decided americadgegen.So we have now risked something – and it has paid off.” While Romain Grosjean broke in with the same tactic before him, Sainz was able to hold his own after the safety vehicle restarts.
“These were probably the most difficult restarts in my life,” he says. Because his opponents brought fresh tires behind him, struggle made Sainz vulnerable. “I did not have temperature in the tires, they were “I knew it was just 'all or nothing' struggle.”
The McLaren driver had to defend against Kimi Raikkonen's Alfa Romeo in particular. How did he do that? “I do not know,” laughs Sainz. “Even in the fourth and fifth gear, I had spinning wheels at the restart because we were so slow and I could not put enough energy into the tires.”
“I got on turn 1, got the Tires blocked, no grip, but somehow I could choose the right line “, he describes and brings his father's genes into play:” Maybe the rally qualities started to help, “he laughs. “From there struggle only defend, defend, defend as much as I could.”
But Sainz made it and towed his McLaren ahead of the Alfa Romeo duo in provisional fourth place finish. After the penalty of Lewis Hamilton, it was even ranked third, but even he had to shiver again. Because the FIA was investigating a yellow flag DRS offense, Sainz could not be sure.
Two hours after the race, however, confirmation followed that McLaren had no punishment to celebrate. And that's what the team did. Because Sainz was not allowed to stand on the official podium, they subsequently arranged his own ceremony without further ado – with a beaming Spaniard in the center and congratulations from all sides. Also by ex-pilot Fernando Alonso.
For Sainz ends with a very crazy weekend with the best result of his career. On Friday he seemed to be one of the slowest drivers in the midfield, on Saturday then followed the engine problem and the last starting position. And even on Sunday, Sainz will never be sure. “I doubted everything”, he laughs
Fourth place in the World Cup is safe
A strategy with only one stop did not seem possible at first, “but it did happen anyway,” says Sainz, who wants a more boring weekend next time. “I would like to have more normal races, but once in a year I have fun like this.”
With this result, McLaren has finally secured fourth place among the constructors. Proud you can enter on a weekend. “This is a great success,” says team boss Andreas Seidl. “And it's a great motivation to make sure that we continue to work hard and fight for podiums on our own in the future.”
“We would never have dreamed of today's result,” adds the German. But sometimes there are such days, Sainz knows: “Everything is perfect, everything has worked out, it's such a ticket where everything comes together, I'm very happy.”
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