Carlos Sainz satisfied, Frederic Vasseur spurs Charles Leclerc on.

Carlos Sainz satisfied, Frederic Vasseur spurs Charles Leclerc on.

Below are statements from Carlos Sainz and Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur at the ternine of the Sprint Race of the Austrian Grand Prix in which the Spaniard finished third.

“Today there were difficult conditions. It was the first time we went with intermediates and you never know what to expect from the balance on this kind of track,” Sainz said. “It’s never easy. But the balance was decent, I struggled a little bit in the high-speed corners at the beginning of the race but then I was able to pick up the pace. I was pretty close to Checo, but the Red Bulls were faster than us. They were faster, then in the middle of the race after passing Hulkenberg I felt more confidence and the track was drying out. But I couldn’t get close enough to Checo. Anyway it’s a good result, we’ll try to bring home some points tomorrow as well.”

“Sainz had a very solid Saturday, he put the lap together and brought home the result,” Vasseur commented. “The race was smooth, in our opinion he was faster than Perez and we will have another opportunity on Sunday. On the other hand, it was a complicated day for Leclerc, since this morning and because of these conditions. Leclerc has to turn the page and think about tomorrow. It will be dry, we want to bring home the result. It was an up and down day, let’s see if there will be consistency. No one did a long stint on the averages, but starting up front will be a great opportunity. With dry conditions everyone is within 3-4 tenths, it depends on confidence. Sunday there will be a total reset. Verstappen is doing an outstanding job, he is great in any condition and his confidence is growing. It’s hard to beat him. We have taken a good step forward, we hope to build something on this good foundation.”