Sainz fears French GP recovery will be ‘trickier than expected’ after grid penalties

Carlos Sainz fears his race will be “trickier than expected” as more engine penalties loom at the French Grand Prix.

The Spaniard was the fastest man in Friday Practice at Paul Ricard but already has a 10-place grid penalty for a new Control Electronics power unit component.

A full engine change is also anticipated on Saturday, which will drop Sainz to the back of the grid for the start on Sunday.

Making his strong single-lap pace meaningly, albeit encouraging.

“Well, it was definitely a positive Friday,” Sainz told the media. “I didn’t do many laps on the short run on the low fuel, but I realised that I was super competitive.

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“It shows that the steps that we’re taking and the direction that we’re taking is going in the right direction, but I was focusing more on the long run because I’m not going to be in that fight for pole position, given the amount of penalties.

“And in the long run, there’s a bit of work to do.”

With temperatures soaring in the South of France, tyre management is expected to be a key factor on Sunday. But when asked about his race preparation, Sainz revealed another potential problem.

“I tried a couple of moments with other cars to overtake because I know I’m going to need to overtake a lot,” he admitted. “And I must say that that was a bit trickier than expected.

“Mainly because there’s a tailwind on the back straight and with this tailwind looks like the slipstream and the DRS effect is a bit low.

“But I don’t have any other choice, I need to find ways to overtake and the best medicine for that is to just be a bit quicker come Sunday.

“Let’s see when everyone is running the engine modes flat out if we have the top speed to overtake. I hope we do because I need to make up a lot of places.”

As for teammate Charles Leclerc, he too was satisfied with the performance shown by Ferrari so far.

“The sessions went quite well today,” commented the Monegasque.

“Our qualifying pace was pretty good, so our focus now will be on our race pace.

“Tyre management will be key as the temperatures are so high this weekend.

“I am confident that we will be all set by the time Sunday comes as we know where we need to improve.”