Car Vrum

During qualifying for the French GP, Carlos Sainz gave a so-called ‘tow’, or slipstream, to teammate Charles Leclerc. Sainz said that had been the plan all weekend, especially given the grid penalty he had to endure.

Carlos Sainz knew when he went to the Paul Ricard circuit that he would take a grid penalty for a new engine. Sainz admitted after qualifying that it had always been the plan to give Leclerc a so-called ‘tow’ in Q3 to give him the best possible chance at pole.

“The plan all weekend was to give Charles a tow in Q3,” Sainz told Sky Sports F1. “Even without practicing it, I kind of knew how to give a good tow and everything went very well.”

Sainz was then asked if he would have had a chance of taking pole under normal circumstances.

“I think you just have to look at the entire race weekend,” said Sainz. “I am very, very fast. So it’s a bit of a frustrating situation for me to experience it during a race weekend where I feel very good in the car.”

“But as I said, I’m very happy that Charles took pole position and that we performed well as a team.”