Carlos Sainz 'in a great position for tomorrow' after qualifying P3 for 2022 F1 Canadian GP

Carlos Sainz had one of his greatest opportunities to set the fastest lap time in Saturday's qualifying ahead of the 2022 F1 Canadian Grand Prix. The Spaniard, who has been desperately chasing his maiden F1 pole position and race win, however, lost out to Max Verstappen and Fernando Alonso.

In a post-qualifying media interaction, Sainz revealed that he is optimistic about tomorrow's main race and that he is expecting to challenge the championship leader. The Ferrari driver said:

“Today I was feeling quite okay with the car, especially in the full wet. The track was drying, but I felt like the others made a bit of a step and I was maybe lacking a couple tenths. I was purple in sector 1, but then in sector 2, I knew that I had lost a little bit too much and in the last corner I tried to do a fast one and it didn’t pay. We are in a good position for tomorrow. It’s going to be a good fight with Max [Verstappen] because he has been quick all weekend and then [Fernando] Alonso as well.”

Max Verstappen secured his second pole position of the 2022 F1 season this weekend, while Fernando Alonso will be starting on the front row for the first time in a decade.

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Carlos Sainz admits Ferrari is "still motivated" despite double DNF in Baku

Ferrari had a devastating race in Baku last weekend with both cars forced to retire due to mechanical issues. At the drivers' press conference ahead of the 2022 F1 Canadian GP, Carlos Sainz revealed that the Scuderia remains united and optimistic about the future despite the setbacks.

The Spaniard said:

“It was a difficult couple of days to try and analyse and explore what the issues were on my car. We’ve found the issue and we know what the problem is. On the other side of the garage, with the engine failure, it was a bit trickier to find it with only four or five days of analysis, and we’re going to need to keep digging into it to find the solution. But as a team, we are still motivated, we are united.”

Carlos Sainz further went on to say:

“We are going through a bump in the road, which I think after the step that we’ve done in the engine this year, I would much rather take this step and take a bump in the road than have an unpowerful (sic) engine that is reliable. I think, as a team, we’ve done a great job with this year’s engine and we’re just going through some issues that are going to be solved, I’m sure.”

Meanwhile, Sainz's teammate Charles Leclerc will be taking on a new power unit this weekend. Consequently, he will be starting the 2022 F1 Canadian GP in P19, ahead of Yuki Tsunoda, who also took a grid penalty this weekend.