Laurence Edmondson, F1 Essayist
MONZA, Italy — Carlos Sainz is hoping to finish Max Verstappen’s report run of consecutive Method One victories at Sunday’s Italian Elegant Prix, however admits the chances will likely be stacked towards him.
Sainz beat Verstappen to pole position by way of 0.013s at Monza, depart the Crimson Bull motive force in 2d park and sandwiched between each Ferraris on Sunday’s grid.
Verstappen is these days on a run of 9 consecutive victories, equalling the report held by way of Sebastian Vettel since 2013, and has a prospect to produce the report his personal with a 10th win in a row on Sunday.
Crimson Bull residue unbeaten this season, with Verstappen taking 11 race wins and teammate Sergio Perez two, and age the possibilities of a Ferrari victory on Sunday stay thin, Sainz continues to be concentrated on the manage step of the rostrum.
“I think it can happen, nothing is impossible tomorrow, especially starting from P1,” he mentioned. “At the start I am going to do everything I can to stay ahead of Max.
“I believe that having a look again at this month, 100% of races they’ve been faster than us, and obviously faster, in order that makes me really feel find it irresistible isn’t getting to be simple in any respect.
“They are going to try to find a way past, one way or another, but if something could happen we would have a very good day tomorrow and get the win.
“I’m simply getting to attempt and walk into the following day with the mindset to win the race and later adapt to the cases and race moment of Verstappen.”
Friday practice gave a glimpse of the performance of each car on heavy fuel over multiple laps, with Verstappen’s lap times during his race simulation averaging out 0.4s faster than Sainz’s.
“What we now have evident from the lengthy runs, I’m now not getting to lie, it’s trickier [to fight Verstappen] and now not the similar image as qualifying,” he said. “Crimson Bull, once you set 5 – 6 laps at the tyres and the entirety begins to lower somewhat, that’s the place their power is, and that’s the race moment we now have evident all month.
“But hopefully I can get a better start and then make Max’s and Checo’s life as difficult as possible. I think we are willing to work through it as a team and give it our best shot.
“It’s a just right alternative the following day, realistically the Crimson Bull will have to be faster, however we’re simply getting to attempt to produce their day as sophisticated as imaginable and attempt to rush the win.”
Verstappen pointed out that Ferrari’s Monza-specific upgrade package most likely helped Sainz beat him to pole, but believes his car, which featured a larger rear wing with more downforce, might give him the advantage in the race when limiting tyre degradation will be key.
“I’m now not in reality stunned [Sainz is on pole position], they have been reasonably fast right here terminating month as neatly,” Verstappen said. “For those who have a look at their rear wing, it’s reasonably neatly optimised for Monza.
“If you look at our wing, for one lap it is maybe not the best optimisation, but for a race it should be better.
“[The result is] not anything surprising, to be fair.”
