Carlos Sainz enjoyed a solid sixth place finish at the US Grand Prix in a race where he stayed out of trouble and took every opportunity that came his way.
In the latter half of the season, it was always going to be clear that Toro Rosso would suffer a power deficit due to the lack of development on the 2015 Ferrari power unit.
However, Sainz made the most of the virtual safety car to end up fighting for fifth place with the Williams of Felipe Massa and McLaren’s Fernando Alonso in the final stages of the race.
“To equal my best result in Formula 1 makes me very happy, but this P6 is a bit more special than the one in Barcelona because here we didn’t think we really had the car to do so – our simulations before the race said we would only finish in P11 or P12 and here we were, fighting for a P5.
“We were able to make the tyres last during the first stint, staying close to the Williams and then managed to create a good gap to Fernando on the Softs.”
Massa nearly ended up in the back of the STR11 in the final laps by out breaking himself into Turn 12 but managed to avoid Sainz and continued to battle the young Spaniard.
After Alonso squeezed past Massa despite making contact, it wasn’t long before the McLaren was filling the mirrors of Sainz and had to start defending.
“The battle with Fernando was so much fun,” Sainz added.
“I knew that he would end up getting past me but I said to myself, ‘let’s make it a bit complicated for him!’ I perfectly know how he attacks and how to defend against him, as I’ve been watching him race for the past 12 years… And I think that to be able to keep him behind for all those laps until he just opened the DRS and said ‘ciao, ciao’ was pretty decent.
“I’m so pleased, so happy, you just can’t imagine what’s going on inside me now, even if I’m not showing it on the outside, I’m delighted! I will definitely celebrate with champagne tonight, for me, this feels like a win.”
Sainz was so happy after the race he took to Twitter to express his happiness.
Twitter: Totally over the moon with P6 and extremely proud to do it on that way!Great fight with my childhood hero @alo_oficial aswell. #spanishpower (@carlosainz)
