Two consecutive poles, first in Monza, now in Singapore. It's a rediscovered Sainz, what we've seen in these last two weekends. Today's is one Pole special but it is even more so if we consider that this time the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez will be decidedly further away than usual. Surprise exits in Q2 they allowed the others to fight for a Pole on the edge of the thousandth. Even the best people make mistakes, and this is where opportunities open up for others. Carlos took it but George Russell also took it, who will start with the Spaniard next to him and with Leclerc behind him. It promises to be a very interesting race, let's see what Carlos Sainz thinks, interviewed immediately after the session.
It will be a close fight with Mercedes
The greats rarely make mistakes but when they happen everyone knows they have a unique chance to take the most coveted prize, that of the winner. Max Verstappen comes off a truly impressive streak of success, having racked up 10 in a row. Since the beginning of the season, Red Bull has never missed an appointment with victory. In Singapore, however, the Austrian team worked under constant pressure, without finding concrete answers to the problems highlighted by the riders. The results of these indecisions were seen in qualifying. Many errors led to the exclusion of both drivers. And we will see if Verstappen will also receive the penalty for the two impediment episodes that concern him in particular.
In this scenario the fight seems open between two teams in particular, Mercedes and Ferrari. If Ferrari is an animal for qualifying, however, Mercedes has repeatedly demonstrated that it is one in the race. He said he was confident about the rivalry with Russell Sainz. Already in Monza he had to withstand constant pressure, starting from Pole with Red Bull and Mercedes hot on his heels.
Sainz's words
“As in Monza I immediately started off with momentum and had confidence in all the things sessions. – says Sainz at the end of qualifying. This took me all the way to Q3. I concentrated on not making any mistakes on that decisive lap, which is not easy because here in Singapore there is always confusion during qualifying, but we kept our concentration because we did the lap that put us on Pole. Our season has been a bit troubled, on some tracks we had excellent performances, yesespecially on the flying lap, and in these curves with short apex points we feel good. However, we know that the race is our weak point, and we can't work hard on it on Friday. But we worked hard to understand the package. Mercedes is always faster in the race than us and they will have a race strategy a little different so we should keep an eye on them trying to have a good race to aim for victory. I will give everything to try to do it, as I tried to do in Monza."
