Carlos Sainz expecting a repeat of Monaco with 'few cars from the midfield joining the top teams'

Carlos Sainz is expecting a repeat of Monaco, where he believes quite a few cars from midfield improved their performance and joined the top teams, at the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend.

There was evidence of quite a few midfield outfits taking a step forward when teams tried a qualifying simulation on Friday.

When every team was done, there were a few surprises as Nico Hulkenberg was P3 while Esteban Ocon was P5 in his Alpine, ahead of Carlos Sainz.

Looking forward to the qualifying session, the Ferrari driver felt that there could possibly be a repeat of what happened in Monaco, where the last few minutes saw four different drivers on pole position. As quoted by F1.com, he said:

“It’s going to be tight. I think the field today was particularly tight, obviously we don’t know fuel modes and engine modes. But there were a few cars from the midfield joining the top teams and mixing it up with us, which I expect will happen again as in Monaco. Just shows the field is closing up and it’s going to be a good challenge for quali.”

Speaking about the new upgrades brought by the team, the Spaniard said:

"We’ve tested the new package, obviously it’s impossible to compare, only Charles had a proper back-to-back," Sainz said. "But for me it was put and run, and we just tuned the car to adapt it to the balance that we have."

Carlos Sainz also expressed delight at the presence of a boisterous crowd for his home race.

"It feels good," he said. "It’s always great to be back here with the crowd, driving a track that I actually think is a lot better, a lot more exciting, has a lot more character, and is also more demanding both physically and mentally with the last two corners the way they are, and enjoying it."

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F1 is booming in Spain: Carlos Sainz

Talking about the fans in attendance, Carlos Sainz was very happy to see so many of them and admitted that the sport was growing in Spain. He said:

“F1 is booming in Spain, I think everywhere, but also in Spain it’s taken big steps. It’s great to see the grandstands nearly full already on a Friday. And seeing people enjoy and clap, and shout as they were doing today on a Friday. Great to see, hopefully more of this to come and hopefully we can give them a good weekend.”

The Spaniard will be hoping to put together a strong weekend for the home fans and target a podium.