A career-best third on the grid "feels amazing" for Carlos Sainz after a tough qualifying session at the Styrian Grand Prix.

As the rain arrived in Spielberg, causing final practice being washed out, McLaren emerged as the third-best team behind Mercedes and Red Bull with the Spaniard having one driver from each behind him on the grid on Sunday.

But achieving that position didn't come without a few scares on the way.

“I’m very happy to come back, on back-to-back weekends and be P3 for the first time in my career," Sainz said. "Second row feels amazing, especially because this qualifying was probably one of the toughest I’ve done in my Formula 1 career.

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“Putting it all together…on the last lap I had a really good lap, but there was so much aquaplaning – it was crazy on the straights, you’d put your foot down and you’d be sliding on the straights.

“It’s something that I enjoy but I was talking to Max and Lewis and they were also quite excited about it.”

Though teammate Lando Norris scored a third place last weekend at the Red Bull Ring, Sainz admits maintaining his grid position is going to be difficult with several faster cars behind.

“The car has been better than we thought in race trim, after testing in Barcelona and we are quite confident going into tomorrow," he said.

"But, at the same time, we saw again on Friday the Red Bull, the Ferrari, the Racing Point – I actually don’t know where they are starting from – but it’s good.

“I’m sure I’m going to have Alex [Albon], I’m going to have Valtteri [Bottas] behind me, it’s going to be a tough few laps but hopefully after that, I’ll be able to settle into my own pace.”

As for Norris, he will start ninth on Sunday following his three-place grid penalty for overtaking under yellow flags in practice but of more concern is the continued upper body pains that are affecting the Briton in the car.

“I don’t know what it is, it is not so much my back but something inside,” he explained.

“When I hit the brakes and cornering I am getting some compression from the G-force and it is causing a lot of pain, we are trying to figure out what it is.

"It is a bit better today, more because I am drugged up slightly but I think it will be a bigger challenge tomorrow.”