Ferrari's Sainz Eyes Victory After Near-Perfect Qualifying

Carlos Sainz takes pole in Mexico, determined to convert his strong qualifying into a race win for Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz clinched pole position for the Mexican Grand Prix, after delivering two Q3 laps that none of his rivals could match. The Ferrari driver was highly pleased with his performance, especially on a circuit where putting everything together is particularly challenging.

“I am very happy; I put in two very good laps. In Mexico, it always feels like you can’t quite nail a perfect lap, with the car constantly sliding. But my two laps in Q3 were almost identical, nearly perfect, and I’m pleased I managed that because it’s not always the case here in Mexico,” Sainz admitted.

“Since Austin, especially on my side, we’ve made a step forward, particularly in qualifying, focusing on better tyre preparation during the out-lap. I want to finish the job tomorrow, but today’s pole shows that we are making progress and delivering strong laps.”

The Spaniard is confident that Ferrari has the potential to win, provided he can maintain the lead through the first corner: “That’s our priority; we want to get both cars to the finish line.”

“And if you win, it’s an additional seven or eight points, which is crucial for the Constructors’ Championship. I want to hold onto first place through the first corner, and our race pace should be enough to secure the win.”

Leclerc ‘Puzzled’ by Gap with Sainz

Charles Leclerc will start fourth on the grid, and he admitted that he never felt in contention for the fierce battle for pole position ahead of him, involving Sainz, Max Verstappen, and Lando Norris.

“It wasn’t very close for me; I’ve been struggling since my first laps here. I knew it would be tough. But we are faster in race conditions, so tomorrow should be better, even if the set-up isn’t optimal for qualifying,” the Monegasque stated.

“But it doesn’t explain the three-tenths gap to Carlos. We’ll have to look at the data, and I need to put in some work. For tomorrow’s race, it should be fine; in the simulations, we were the fastest, so that’s promising, but it would have been better to start further up the grid.”

Leclerc hopes to benefit from battles ahead of him at the start to gain positions, a strategy that paid off for him last week: “It’s going to be intense as usual, and we’ll try to replicate what we did in Austin. Hopefully, it will help us to be in a better position after the first corner, allowing us to focus on making progress through the race.”