Red Bull’s dominant performance in Saturday’s qualifying sessions at the Japanese Grand Prix showed they were in a league of another league, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz said as he vowed to fight for a podium position in Sunday’s race.
Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen took pole position ahead of Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez and McLaren’s Lando Norris was third.
Ferrari’s Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who were among the fastest drivers on Friday, might not emerge from a disappointing performance in the final practice session and will start fourth and eighth respectively.
“Hopefully we can fight with them in the race because in qualifying it was impossible. In the race, it would be great to fight for the podium. I think it will be an attractive war for the podium,” Sainz told Sky. Sports.
“I think, unfortunately, the Red Bulls are in a different league, with harder asphalt, medium and maximum speeds; They’re just ahead in terms of downforce. “
In the second qualifying session, Sainz was forced to deal with a throttle problem, with the Spaniard claiming he had tried to get it out of his head. “It’s just a comfortable pedal. There’s no threat, just this weird feeling. “
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Sainz’s teammate Leclerc, who is Verstappen’s closest rival by name and trails the championship leader by 4 problems after 3 laps, admitted he had a bad day at the office.
“We can improve a little bit, but like in qualifying, if I go through the feeling at the end of the lap, I think, ‘Okay, that’s a smart lap’, and then you look at the board and think we’re a moment behind,” Leclerc said.
“The positive, if we have to locate it, is that our race speed will be stronger, but on a track like this, qualifying position is incredibly important. And we didn’t do a smart job today. “
“I just hope we get a chance to overtake because on a track like this it’s going to be very, very tricky to overtake, so I’ll do my best. “