Carlos Sainz bemoans Ferrari's narrow working window that possibly led to Charles Leclerc's qualifying debacle

Carlos Sainz feels the narrow working window for the Ferrari could have played a role in Charles Leclerc's qualifying debacle. The Ferrari driver suffered a shock Q1 exit as he was unable to string together a strong lap.

This turned out to be a major surprise as well as the Spaniard on the other hand had a very impressive session and will start the race on the front row.

Talking about what could possibly have gone wrong with his teammate, Carlos Sainz said that this has been the story of the season.

The car is far to sensitive when it comes to working in the operating window and that hurts whenever there is a slight change in the conditions. He said:

"I don't know exactly what happened to Charles but it’s been the same story of the whole year. It feels like it’s a very narrow window for us; very narrow window for the car; very tricky car to drive. And as soon as the conditions get tricky, it can go one way or the other and you’re fighting very different balances and it's a very fine line for me today."

Carlos Sainz also touched on how the grid seems to have closed up massively this season. The Ferrari driver talked about how even the Alpines, the Haas and the McLarens are starting to mix things up which means everything needs to be perfect. He said:

"It worked out okay, it was tough, because now it looks like the midfield is really starting to close-up with us. You have the likes of the Alpines, even the Haas, Lando with the McLarens are appearing and just joining us in that fight for second or third best. Obviously Red Bull are in a league of their own but then everyone else, it looks like it's really, really tight out there."

What happened to Carlos Sainz's teammate?

While the Spaniard had a very impressive session his teammate Charles Leclerc was too far off the benchmark to make it past Q1.

As it turns out, even Ferrari felt that there was something wrong with the car and tried to find out what was the issue behind the lack of performance.

According to the latest updates, Charles Leclerc could start the race from the pitlane as Ferrari might make wholesale changes to the car before the race.

For Carlos Sainz though, the driver would be hoping to secure a podium in his home race in front of the fans.