Carlos Sainz admits a little lack of luck in the Hockenheim casino cost him a podium finish at the German Grand Prix.
The Spaniard had got back to the front of the midfield after being the first of several drivers to go off at the final two corners, but in the final change to slicks, dropped behind Daniil Kvyat and Lance Stroll and had to settle for a fifth place finish.
“Every decision that we do probably was the right one,” said Sainz. “In the end, we lost out on a podium because of two cars with nothing to lose.
“They pitted for slicks and benefited from that. When you don’t see the Mercedes, Red Bull or Ferrari pitting you say, we are P5 we are crazy if we pit now and we miss this.
“We were very close to pitting and that would’ve given us a podium place but in the end, it was wise that we didn’t but the others benefited from the risky decision.”
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It was still a solid day’s work in a race when many around were falling back and Sainz’s result gives McLaren now a 28-point lead over Toro Rosso in the battle for fourth in the Constructors’ standings.
The Spaniard though admits it was far from easy.
“Honestly today, I was not really comfortable with the conditions,” he stated.
“We were running a smaller rear wing than the rest of our competitors and we struggled to warm up our tyres. When you got into a rhythm it was fine but just the restarts we struggled.
“That spin cost me, but in the end, we were the only car not to pit for slicks halfway through the race as it started to rain again, so it was a good call that gave us back the position.”
