Carlos Sainz Jr. was happy that both Renault Sport Formula One Team cars were able to achieve their target of making it through to the top ten shoot out for the Australian Grand Prix, but he admitted he had hoped to be higher than ninth on the grid.
The Spaniard had beaten team-mate Nico Hülkenberg in the first two stages of Qualifying at Albert Park but was left slightly downbeat that the German edged ahead when it mattered in Q3, with the gap between them just 0.045 seconds.
“We expected both cars to be in the top ten and we achieved this today, which confirms the good progress of the whole team,” said Sainz.
“I had hoped to be a little bit higher than this, however the lap time didn’t come. I’ll take a good look at that today with my engineers.”
Sainz hopes to make progress from his grid slot on Sunday and secure a fourth consecutive points finish in Australia, and he feels that they can take the fight to their main rivals.
“For tomorrow, I’m convinced we can move forward,” said Sainz. “It’s going to be tight but we have a good car and a good chance to battle with the cars around us.
“I’m confident we can put together a competitive race!”
