McLaren F1 Team had one of their best results of the season in Austria and Carlos Sainz Jr. put in a stunning performance as he charged through the grid.
Sainz began the day in nineteenth position after being handed a grid penalty when he opted to run using a new set of Renault power unit elements.
However, his incredible surge through the midfield saw the Spaniard finish in eighth position, scoring four points for the British outfit.
And Sainz said his motivation from the race came from his anger at being handed the grid penalty, “What a race! I’m really, really happy with how we recovered from a tough weekend, and from ninteenth on the starting grid. Up until yesterday, I had this feeling of frustration due to the [PU] penalty, but this morning I turned all that frustration into motivation for the race.”
Sainz and his teammate Lando Norris scored a total of twelve points for McLaren, sending the team into fourth in the Constructors Standings. with their biggest points haul this season.
Their current points total for this season so far is 52 points and they’re just ten points off their points total from the whole of last season.
After Sunday’s impressive race from McLaren, Sainz hailed the tactical nous of the whole team for his tyre strategy, “I think we executed a very strong race today, with a long stint on the Medium tyre and then pitting for the Hard compound in the right moment.”
Sainz said the team’s tyre tactics gave him the strength to battle through the field, which he did with some incredible overtakes: “From that point onwards it was overtake after overtake, and I made my way into the points. The only setback of the day was that my front wing got damaged 10 laps from the end when I was starting to attack Gasly.
“With the pace I had, I think I could’ve taken seventh, but I really had to drive the car carefully to avoid any mistakes and finally managed to stay ahead of Raikkonen.”
Following the performance at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Sainz was left thrilled with the team, “Very happy for everyone in the team. Great race, great comeback and congrats for another double points finish.”
