Sainz says his Ferrari ‘belonged’ in the top three at Silverstone, after slow pit stop hampered his race

Despite a frustratingly slow pit stop midway through the British Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz said his P6 finish at Silverstone was "still a positive result" – but couldn’t help looking wistfully at Ferrari team mate Charles Leclerc’s podium finish.

Sainz came into the pits from P2 on Lap 29 but a stubborn left-front tyre change meant his stop lasted 12.3 seconds and the Spaniard lost 37.5 seconds in the pit lane, which was 2.5s less than Lewis Hamilton spent in the pit lane serving a 10s stop-and-go penalty. The Ferrari driver was asked if he was disappointed after the race.

READ MORE: Leclerc ‘50% happy, 50% frustrated’ after narrowly missing out on first Ferrari win since 2019

“Yes, of course, when you have such a strong pace and you do fastest laps and you are basically as fast as we were today it’s obviously difficult to take," he said. "But considering that [on Lap 1 of the F1 Sprint (below)] I was last and I managed to finish P6 [in the Grand Prix] with a very slow pit stop, it is still a positive result.

“I think the team has been great in pit stops this year and it’s the first mistake we do. It is what it is; it’s always going to happen during the year and congrats to Charles because today he put the car where it belonged.”

The British GP marked a third consecutive double-points haul for Ferrari and a huge turnaround in form after they failed to score at all in the French GP, four races ago.

“I mean, it’s been very positive, you know, to see that the car in clean air was as fast as it was today,” said Sainz. “I think as you said, at some point I was setting fastest lap on 25-[lap]-old mediums, so it shows that the tyre deg and the set-up and the car balance is improving.

READ MORE: How Hamilton and Mercedes negated the impact of 10s penalty to win at Silverstone

“We are indeed looking to improve all the areas, still, but today at this circuit that we thought it was not going to be very good for us; we delivered, and the car was very nice to drive.”

The Scuderia left Silverstone with lots to smile about, with Leclerc having taken his first podium since the 2020 British GP after leading 49 laps - and Sainz’s points helping the team keep tabs on McLaren in their fight for P3 in the constructors’ championship.