Still doubts and no miracles for Scuderia Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz -> Q1: 21st (1:42.393, 9 laps)

The Spaniard did not have the chance to shine in the night of the United Arab Emirates, far from it. Even though he did not suffer a puncture, he was directly impacted by the two punctures of Daniil Kvyat in FP1 and FP2. In response, the team, in agreement with the FIA stewards, decided to abort the second free practice session on Friday to work on both cars.

After approval from the high authority, the two Italian cars were back on track during the FP3. For Carlos Sainz, it was reminiscent of his own two punctures experienced in Austin during the United States Grand Prix. Obviously, the fear that such an incident might affect him again was very present in his mind: “The team has put all its available resources to repair the car,” indicated the Spanish driver on this subject. “We had to make sure there was no contact between the tire and the edge of the suspension. But the problem is that we don’t know the cause of these punctures. So we are not 100% sure that it won’t happen again!”

On the Abu Dhabi track, Carlos Sainz didn’t last long. Ejected from Q1 and second to last, marking the worst position of his young Formula 1 career. The Madrid native had already started from 20th place four times, but never one spot lower: « It was honestly two difficult days! It’s painful because I really wanted to finish the season with a clean weekend while enjoying myself. We work hard, and every time we make a change to the car, it seems positive. The team has done a fantastic job since yesterday. Obviously, it affected our setup as we didn’t have much time to develop the car. We will start very far back on the grid tomorrow. »

However, number 55 on the grid can console himself: starting 20th in Montreal this year, he finally secured 9th place at the finish. So, will it be a repeat performance tomorrow for the last race of his second season in Formula 1? « I will try above all to enjoy it, hoping there are no reliability issues, while following a good strategy. »

Daniil Kyvat -> Q1: 17th (1:42.003, 9 laps)

Symbol of the problems of the Faenza team, the Russian still managed to do slightly better than Carlos Sainz. He almost harbored the hope of reaching Q2. He ultimately fell short by two-tenths of the 16th place occupied by Pascal Wehrlein’s Manor: « After all the problems we fought against this weekend, today’s result is the maximum we could hope for, at least on my side. I don’t think I could have done a better lap, to be honest. We had little track time during the free sessions, so it was difficult to qualify well… I am happy with our recovery, we still have a chance to fight tomorrow. I will try to have a clean race, seeing where it ends. We are going in blind! But we will fight from start to finish, rest assured! »

The beautiful sixth place secured by Sainz at Interlagos is already a distant memory. Fortunately, the Toro Rosso team has already secured seventh place in the Constructors’ standings with 63 points, 34 points more than the Haas F1 Team. However, it will be quite challenging to bridge the 12-point gap separating them from McLaren-Honda…