Sainz put in a Driver of the Day performance, as voted by Formula 1 fans, to take third in Bahrain, but even as he appeared to be on track to challenge Perez in the final stint, with hard tyres seeming preferable to the new softs Perez had, Sainz explained that the kindness Red Bull has on its tyres meant it was a viable option for them.
Having seen how Red Bull have stacked up around Bahrain throughout pre-season testing and into the race weekend, Sainz knew that despite having a potential tyre advantage trying to catch Perez late on, it was entirely possible that the Red Bull driver would be able to make his tyres last the 20 laps required while most other teams could not.
“You guys need to consider that we’ve been testing here three days and I’ve been seeing that Red Bull degradation on soft, and it’s exactly the same as ours on the hard,” Sainz stated to media including PlanetF1.com after the race.
“So as soon as I knew Red Bull had a new soft for the last stint and Checo had it, it’s not like I went ‘okay, this is my chance’.
Having seen how Red Bull have stacked up around Bahrain throughout pre-season testing and into the race weekend, Sainz knew that despite having a potential tyre advantage trying to catch Perez late on, it was entirely possible that the Red Bull driver would be able to make his tyres last the 20 laps required while most other teams could not.
“You guys need to consider that we’ve been testing here three days and I’ve been seeing that Red Bull degradation on soft, and it’s exactly the same as ours on the hard,” Sainz stated to media including PlanetF1.com after the race.
“So as soon as I knew Red Bull had a new soft for the last stint and Checo had it, it’s not like I went ‘okay, this is my chance’.
