Carlos Sainz Jr. was happy with how Qualifying for the German Grand Prix went for him, with the Spaniard set to start Sunday’s race from eighth place on the grid, alongside team-mate Nico Hülkenberg on the fourth row.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team racer was unable to use the new front wing brought to the Hockenheimring this weekend during the session, but felt the other upgrades introduced to his R.S.18 seemed to be working well, which enabled him to finish 0.132 seconds off his team-mate.
“I’m pretty pleased with how things have gone today,” said Sainz. “Qualifying was quite challenging at the beginning, but we made big improvements throughout.
“I put in a decent lap in Q3 and eighth is not a bad position for tomorrow. I didn’t use the new front wing in qualifying but the upgrade is working which is also great news.”
Sainz says the ambition once again is to secure a points finish for both himself and team-mate Hülkenberg on Sunday, with the Spaniard feeling the long run pace he had on Friday afternoon in Germany looked and felt positive, although tyre management will be key.
The twenty-three-year-old crashed out of the British Grand Prix after contact with Romain Grosjean but has only failed to score points in three of the opening ten races of the season, and currently sits tenth in the Drivers’ Championship, while Renault themselves are fourth in the Constructors’ Championship, a position he hopes they maintain.
“As always, we are targeting to put both cars in the points tomorrow,” said Sainz. “Our race pace looks promising, but we need to keep an eye on the tyres and managing them throughout.”
