Carlos Sainz Jr. fought back into the points during last Sundays’ Hungarian Grand Prix after being caught out during the pit stop cycle early in the race, which relegated him down the order.
The McLaren F1 Team racer started ninth at the Hungaroring and had made a good start, but when he made the jump into the pit lane to change from the intermediate Pirelli tyres to the medium compound of slicks on lap three, he was held up by his mechanics to prevent an unsafe release as other cars also made the decision to pit on the same lap.
Ironically, he was clipped by Nicholas Latifi after the Williams Racing driver was released into his path by his team, but he survived the contact without damage.
The delay relegated Sainz outside the points, but he fought back superbly to finish on the road in tenth, which became ninth once Kevin Magnussen was handed a time-penalty post-race for a pre-race infringement.
“Overall a tough day today,” said Sainz. “I was very happy with the start which left us in a strong position before the first pit-stop, however we lost several positions during the stop due to the traffic release, which I think cost us a lot in the overall result.
“I managed to fight back into the points, so I’m happy about that, but definitely not the best Sunday because I feel we deserved a bit more.”
Sainz hopes the Hungaroring is just a small dip for McLaren and the pace of the MCL35 is stronger for the double-header weekend at Silverstone, but he added his appreciation for the efforts put in by the team for racing across three consecutive race weekends.
“I’m looking forward to improving the car balance and coming back stronger at Silverstone,” said the Spaniard. “Thank you to the whole team for the effort during this first triple-header.
“Let’s keep pushing!”
