To miss out on Q3 by only two-thousandths of a second is sure to bring any driver’s calm to its knees. Ferrari driver, Carlos Sainz expressed his disappointment with missing out on Q3 for the first time this year by just that margin and had to be the Atlas bearing this weight at yesterday’s Hungarian GP Qualifying.

The whole qualifying session was nail-bitingly tense. The new format, where drivers had to use different tire compounds in each phase, added to the unpredictability. Some big-name drivers, including Sainz, couldn’t make it to the final phase because of how tight the competition was. On the other hand, his teammate Charles Leclerc managed to secure sixth place on the grid.

The track conditions were constantly improving during Q1, so everyone was out there almost non-stop. Carlos and Charles made it to Q2 and gave it their all with two timed laps on Medium tires. But the track kept evolving, and all drivers improved on their second runs, making it a fierce battle. Unfortunately, Carlos fell short by the tiniest of margins. His time of 1:17.703 put him in 11th place, just two thousandths of a second behind the 10th spot.

Even his gap to the third-placed driver, Max Verstappen, was just 156 thousandths. In Sainz’s own words, as per Gazzetta.it,: “With the old qualifying regulations, we could certainly have done better, even if the lot of wind didn’t help the balance – said the Spaniard – the two-thousandths disadvantage that put me out of Q3 is really minimal, a real shame. With normal qualifying and without the new format, we certainly could have done better.” [translated via Google]

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While Sainz would love to bounce back in the race, the lack of pace poses a question about Ferrari‘s general competitiveness. Even with a new format, the SF-23 did not look as quick as one may have hoped for in the low-speed corners at the Hungaroring.

Does Hungaroring not suit Carlos Sainz and Co.?

During the Friday free practice in Budapest, teams had to tussle with the new format, and approached it uniquely, making it quite challenging to gauge where everyone stands in terms of performance. However, Leclerc’s comments after the practice session indicated that he didn’t merely settle for being the fastest in the first free practice; he expressed satisfaction with how things went and eagerly anticipates the upcoming race. But as it turns out things are not the way they appeared during the practice session.

In the official Ferrari post-qualifying update, they mentioned that Sainz didn’t feel comfortable with the Medium compound throughout the weekend, and this affected his performance during the tightly contested qualifying session. Tire management will play a crucial role and could decide Ferrari’s chances in the race.

Securing valuable points won’t be an easy task, especially with the challenges of traffic and high tire degradation, but Sainz remains determined to make a bold statement and demonstrate his resilience during the race. Although missing out on Q3 by such a small margin might have been disappointing, he has the talent and experience to bounce back and perform strongly during the race.

For Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the race offers a chance to redeem themselves after the frustrating qualifying session. Starting from sixth and eleventh places on the grid, respectively, they have a tough task ahead of them.

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