Journalists rave about F1 driver who ‘had the edge’ over his teammate despite finishing behind him

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Journalists Tom Clarkson and Diego Mejia have been raving about Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz after the Austrian Grand Prix.

Speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, the pair wanted to give special praise to the Spaniard.

It was a positive weekend for Carlos Sainz, but it could have gone so much better.

He ended up with a sixth-place finish on Sunday after standing on the podium in Saturday’s Sprint Race.

Track limits denied him a higher finish in Sunday’s race, although most of the grid was struggling to keep their cars off the curbs.

It could have been even better for Sainz, however, he was stuck behind teammate Charles Leclerc in the opening stint.

Ferrari wouldn’t allow Sainz to pass despite clearly being the faster car during the Austrian GP.

Not only that, he thrived under pressure on Saturday morning with an impressive qualifying session after some issues with his car.

He’ll be disappointed that after having so much pace he somehow ended the weekend with fewer points than Leclerc.

Ferrari driver Sainz praised for Austrian performance

Speaking about the 28-year-old, Clarkson said: “Respect to Carlos [Sainz], I love the way he was playing with Checo [Perez].

“In the way that Max [Verstappen] when he was battling with Charles Leclerc as well.

“Getting off the gas just so he still had the DRS going into Turn 4, they’re just who just really understand the game of racing.

Fox Sports’s Diego Mejia added: “One thing that I wanted to point out about Carlos which was something that caught my attention his SQ1.

“He had this brake-by-wire problem and he suddenly just had one lap to go and is to go through to SQ2 in one lap.

“And he not only advanced to SQ2, but he set the fastest lap of the session. That’s where you see the talent of a driver, when you have to do it, you have to do it.

“That also helped him get that third place in the sprint [race].

Clarkson concluded: “Is this a sort of Carlos track in the same way that it’s a Lando [Norris] track? He seems to have been, apart from that one lap in qualifying where Charles Leclerc beat him, he’s had the edge over Charles this weekend.”

F1O View – Sainz unlucky at Red Bull Ring

A mixture of frustrating strategy and bad luck may have denied Sainz two podiums this weekend.

It’s very unlikely he would have ever caught Max Verstappen had Leclerc let him pass, but he would have opened up a more significant gap over the oncoming Sergio Perez.

Sainz is currently the highest-placed driver in the standings this season not to have a Sunday podium finish.

He’ll be hoping Silverstone allows him to finally break that duck next weekend.

Thankfully for now, rumours of his Sainz’s potential departure from Ferrari didn’t rear their head at the Austrian GP.