F1 | Ferrari, Sainz alongside Leclerc: "Strategy not yet defined, there is a lot of degradation"

Second row for Carlos Sainz in qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver, perhaps due to a small error in the last attempt, was unable to do better than fourth place, and will therefore start alongside teammate Charles Leclerc tomorrow. The Spaniard wants to end the season in the best possible way, perhaps with another podium after the solid one achieved in Brazil.

“I didn't make any big mistakes to tell the truth – Sainz admitted in the mixed zone. It was a clean qualifying, and honestly I was fast all evening, only in the last attempt I had to do a very slow launch lap because there were a very slow McLaren and an Alpine in front, and I couldn't warm up. the tires properly. The important thing is to have pace, I'm fast and I'll start from a good position tomorrow. We're not in such a bad place on race pace compared to yesterday: normally we struggle more with a full tank of fuel but we'll try, I think Red Bull is very strong, while Mercedes starts from behind, so we have the chance to beat them and finish ahead in the championship ”.

“It will be difficult to fight with the Red Bull but we will try, but the objective is to stay in front of the Mercedes, so we will see how we are after the first stint. At the start I have to be careful of Charles in front of me, but with Max and Checo we can be aggressive considering that even if we finish third and fourth we still beat Mercedes, so we have to find compromises. The race is long and the strategy is not yet well defined, so you can't do much in the first corner as it is close to the starting line. There is more degradation than usual here, it will be a hard race for the tires and for this reason I think we can do everything tomorrow. We will have opportunities in the pit stop, today we recovered the pace compared to yesterday, when Red Bull and Mercedes were much faster, so let's start from here."