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Carlos Sainz: ‘Every decision we took probably was the right one’

Carlos Sainz: ‘Every decision we took probably was the right one’

30-07-2019 18:23

Bevan Youl

Carlos Sainz has said that ‘every decision we took probably was the right one’ after McLaren missed the chance for a podium with their strategy calls.

Sainz had been running ahead of Lance Stroll and Daniil Kvyat in fourth but dropped behind them after they made an early call to switch to slick tyres under the penultimate safety car period.
 
Overall the Spaniard felt it was the right call even though he wanted to put slicks on himself but understood the team didn’t want to risk position.
 
Sainz said (quoted by RaceFans): “Every decision that we took probably was the right one.
 
“In the end we missed out on a podium because of two cars that had nothing to lose and pitted for a slick and benefitted from that.”
 
“I was [fifth], I asked to pit actually.
 
“It was just when you don’t see the Mercedes, the Red Bull and the Ferrari pitting you say ‘we are [fifth], we are crazy if we pit now’. And we missed this.
 
“We were very close to pitting and that would have given us a podium today. In the end it was a wise thing to [not] do but unfortunately the others profited from a risky decision.”
 
Sainz made up places after spinning early onin the race but added that he struggled overall in the conditons.

“I was not very comfortable in the conditions,” he added.
 
“We were running a smaller rear wing than all of our direct competitors and we were struggling to warm up the tyres initially.

“Then more or less once you got into a rhythm it was fine, it was just the restarts with a smaller rear wing compared to our rivals, it was just a bit more tricky.”

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