Carlos Sainz to start sixth in the Japanese GP

Saturday, 23 September 2023
-    Free Practice 3: P6, 1:31.137, 20 laps
-    Qualifying: P6, 1:29.850, 14 laps

• Carlos Sainz will start the Japanese GP from the third row of the grid after a challenging Qualifying session for Scuderia Ferrari.
• A red flag period in Q1 (1:30.651) forced him to use a second set of Soft tyres, which led to him having only one brand new set available for Q3.
• The Ferrari race driver was not completely satisfied with his only flying lap in Q3 (1:29.850), given that the set-ups that were tested and selected for the SF-23 didn’t give the expected result.

QUOTES:
“It was a difficult qualifying today. We knew before coming here that this track would expose our weakness a bit more and, with its high speed characteristics and long corners, we knew it was never going to be easy. I’ve tried many different things and set-ups since yesterday, with the aim of putting the car in a better place, but it clearly didn’t work. I didn’t do a good lap in Q3 either, so we’ll start P6 tomorrow".

“We’ll fight to get some good points tomorrow and we’ll be ready to grab any opportunities".

COMING UP:
Sunday, 24 September 2023
-    Race: 14:00 local time (07:00 CEST)