Sainz: We left nothing on the table today

With both his teammate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen starting further down the grid, the Spaniard had a great chance of securing his second Formula 1 win.

But in the end his Ferrari lacked the firepower of the RB18, that was utterly brilliant, so much that even Sergio Perez - struggling all weekend - was able to overhaul Sainz and take second.

Sainz however believes that he and Ferrari did all they could, and was quoted by F1's official website saying: "I think we left nothing on the table today.

"We were just not strong enough compared to them; they were on another planet this weekend. They were just strong in quali, strong in the race, better in tyre management, stronger in the straights, strong in the corners, in some of them, and we were not quick enough, unfortunately," he explained.

"I think we would lie if we wouldn’t say that we are surprised, because the gap was certainly much bigger, or the biggest we’ve seen all season across the two teams," Sainz admitted. "And it’s certainly something that we didn’t expect, which means that we need to go back and analyse why at this sort of track we are so weak.

"We still need to analyse, take some conclusions and try to come back with a better low-downforce package for Monza, in case we are not so strong there also," the Ferrari driver warned.

Sainz admitted that he was banking on Ferrari race pace to reduce the gap to Verstappen, which clearly wasn't the case.

"I was hopeful that the six to eight-tenths [gap to Verstappen] that we saw in in quali were going to come down in the race with a hotter track," he said.

"It was maybe more being optimistic and hopeful about my prospects for the race, but unfortunately, if anything, it made the gap even bigger and we were just sliding even more, we had even less grip and we went backwards more quickly than expected.

"As I said, we needed to take P3 because this weekend there was not much more to do, and we saved a decent result," the 27-year-old concluded.

Sainz's eventual third place was also under threat towards the end of the race, as Mercedes' George Russell was catching up with him, but in the end the Ferrari driver was able to hold on to take the final podium step.