The Scuderia Toro Rosso left the Circuit de Catalunya with two more points towards the championship, but the team were disappointed with their result after their excellent qualifying on Saturday. Carlos Sainz Jr took ninth, the team’s best ever result at the circuit, but Max Verstappen missed out on points in eleventh.
Sainz was disappointed to see his qualifying work undone early in the race as he dropped down the order from his fifth on the grid, but was happy to get some of those places back towards the end of the race, and was happy to take two points for ninth after a last lap pass on Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull.
“It was a tricky start to today’s race and I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the fifth position from which I had started from didn’t last much,” insisted Sainz.
“But I kept my head down, started to save my tyres early in the race, as I know that our car behaves better with lower fuel, and I managed to extend my stint a bit on the Prime tyres. That enabled me to go for it during the final five laps and go for the last two points.
“It was a tricky moment: I had DRS and managed to get ahead of Daniil before Turn 1 and crossed the line in ninth position. It’s good to add another two points to the team’s tally at my first home race.”
Team-mate Verstappen reflected on a similarly disappointing Grand Prix that ultimately saw him finish outside the points in eleventh. He insisted that it was not the race he was expecting after the team’s strong performance in qualifying.
“It was a difficult race today,” insisted Verstappen. “It was very hard for the rear tyres. In addition to this, having to deal with blue flags at the end of the race also put me in a difficult position.
“It wasn’t the race we expected after a very strong qualifying session yesterday.”
