Sainz: P3 a good reward after a difficult start to weekend

Despite some slight improvement compared to the Spanish GP, where Ferrari failed to unlock the potential they claim they have in their latest upgrade package, they were left fighting with Mercedes, the latter again faster than them over the Formula 1 weekend in Spielberg.

Sainz was the better of the Ferrari drivers, not stellar though, but Charles Leclerc was all over the place, an anti-stall issue compromising his Sprint qualifying, while he binned it in Q3 in qualifying for the grand prix.

And while Sainz was fighting with McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton just outside the top three, an opening lap incident meant Leclerc had a damaged front wing and an early lengthy pit stop that had him languishing way down the order out of the points and finished 11th.

Sainz's efforts however were rewarded after Verstappen and Norris crashed fighting for the lead, the former found predominantly, which meant George Russell inherited the lead while the Spaniard could not fend off Piastri who was second, third ending up as his final result.

Speaking in Ferrari's race report, Sainz said: "This P3 is a positive result and it's a good reward for us after what was a difficult start to the weekend.

"Yesterday [Saturday] we worked hard to try to improve the car after the Sprint and we had a better qualifying. Today [Sunday] it was an eventful race and our pace wasn't bad, fighting with the Mercedes for a place on the podium. Unfortunately, after the crash at the front I couldn’t do much to keep the other McLaren behind as they’ve been very fast here in Austria.

"All in all, a podium is a good result and now we need to focus on ourselves to be able to fight at the front, which is where we want to be. All eyes on Silverstone, Sainz concluded.

As for Leclerc, he reflected on a disappointing weekend, he said: "Unfortunately, this was a weekend to forget as nothing went as it should.

"The collision on the opening lap obviously completely ruined my race. We were hoping for a Safety Car but it didn’t come and I lost time behind Lando (Norris) when I had fresh tyres and could have pushed more. The end result was that we couldn’t even score a point.

"Apart from Carlos’ podium which brings us a good points haul in the Constructors’, the only other positive aspect of the weekend is that we were able to try various set-up configurations, producing plenty of data for the team, which will be very important for the upcoming races.

"Tomorrow, we will immediately start working hard with the aim of putting this race behind us, right from next weekend at Silverstone," the Monegasque concluded.

Having scored only two points over the weekend in Austria, Leclerc is now six points behind Norris in the 2024 F1 Drivers' Championship where he is third as was somehow luck Norris did not score any points in Sunday's grand Prix or the gap would've been bigger.

Ferrari remain second in the Constructors' Championship, 64 points behind Red Bull Racing.