Formula 1 British GP
Sainz surprised by British GP F1 pole as lap was "nothing special"
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz admitted he was "surprised" to grab his first Formula 1 pole in a wet qualifying session for the British Grand Prix, saying his lap was "nothing special".
Filip Cleeren
Edited: Jul 3, 2022, 2:11 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Saturday afternoon's qualifying was held in soaked conditions, but as the top 10 made its way into the final Q3 shootout the track's racing line started drying up by the second.
That meant that drivers had to continue circulating to get a fast lap in as close to the end of the session as possible to find the best conditions, and it meant virtual pole frequently changed hands between Ferrari's Charles Leclerc and Red Bull's Max Verstappen.
But with his final lap Sainz grabbed his maiden F1 pole by just 0.072s over Verstappen, with Leclerc three tenths behind in third and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez a distant fourth.
Sainz admitted he was shocked that his lap was good enough for pole, because he thought it was "nothing special".
"It was a good lap, but I was struggling a lot with the standing water on the intermediate, there was a lot more standing water, even on the racing line, and it was very easy to get snaps and lose the lap" Sainz said.
"It was also more difficult to get temperature into this intermediate for this condition.
"In the end I put together a lap that I didn't think was that special just to be on the board and it was pole position which came as a bit of a surprise."
With his first pole in the record books, Sainz is now chasing a maiden victory in F1 and believes he has race pace to pull off a double breakthrough on Sunday.
"I think so. The pace has been there all weekend, except for FP3 where we had some issues that we that we think we have corrected for qualifying, but if I base myself on my FP2 pace then we should be in a good position to try and hold on to it.
"I'm sure Max and Charles will put a lot of pressure on, but I will try my best of course."
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
Leclerc spun on his final lap and therefore "didn't deserve to be on pole", but said he was happy to see his teammate take his first pole.
When asked if he was disappointed, Leclerc said: "Yeah I am, but happy for Carlos. He did a great job today.
"I spun in that last lap, I knew it was the lap where I had to put everything together and I didn't as a driver, so I didn't deserve to be on pole.
"But P3 is still a good position to start tomorrow's race. And hopefully, putting everything together, we can come back."
"It will be interesting to see whoever is going for one stop or two stops, but hopefully we will make the right choice and we can come back to where we want to be."
Read Also:
- Horner tells FIA not to "d*ck" with 2023 F1 aero rules
- Mercedes would have broken FIA F1 porpoising limit in Baku
- Mercedes not ruling out future switch to Red Bull F1 car concept
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Sainz: Drivers "super frustrated" by wrong delta times in F1 qualifying
Next article F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Sainz takes British GP pole
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Filip Cleeren
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
8 h
"It's horribly painful" - Williams drops 2026 car upgrades to benefit 2027
More from
Carlos Sainz
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Formula 1
Formula 1 25 d
Williams has better cooling vests than anyone – Alex Albon
Latest news
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
“I was getting beat up” – How Daniel Ricciardo burned out on ‘humiliating’ F1 return
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
IMSA
IMSA IMSA 4 h
Myers Riley Motorsports adds Andretti alongside returning Fraga for 2027 IMSA GTD campaign
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
4 h
Las Vegas GP reveals neon sign-inspired trophy design
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe