Carlos Sainz Jr. felt it was a disappointing result in Qualifying for the Singapore Grand Prix, with the Spaniard having felt a top ten starting position was on the cards only to fail to advance into Q3.
The Renault Sport Formula One Team driver had been confident in the first segment of Qualifying around the Marina Bay Street Circuit but found himself losing grid and therefore confidence in the car the longer the session went on, which ultimately saw him eliminated in Q2 and twelfth on the grid.
Sainz’s best lap of 1:38.716 was more than a quarter of a second down on the time set by team-mate Nico Hülkenberg that saw the German make it through into the top ten shootout, with the Spaniard hoping to find the reasons why the pace seemed to disappear when it mattered on Saturday.
“It’s a disappointing result in the end as the car felt good in Q1 and little by little we lost grip from the rear tyres,” said Sainz. “When you lose grip through the session, especially at a track like this, it’s difficult to put together a perfect lap.
“We need to analyse why we went backwards after a promising Q1.”
Despite his relatively lowly grid slot, Sainz remains confident that he can bring the R.S.18 home in the points on Sunday, particularly as he will have a free choice of starting tyre that opens up a number of different strategy options.
“We remain optimistic for tomorrow, however,” said the Spaniard. “We have a good chance with a number of options with strategy.
“Our target was to be further up the grid for the start, but points are given out at the end of the race.”
