Apr 12, 2018

Carlos Sainz in China: “I want to get back to our Australia competitiveness”

The driver of the Renault Sport Formula One Team has fond memories of Shanghai

Shanghai, 12th of April 2018.- Carlos Sainz has arrived at the Shanghai International Circuit, home this weekend to the third round in the 2018 Formula One calendar: The Chinese Grand Prix.

The driver of the Renault Sport Formula One Team has fond memories of the Asian giant, since he has scored points in all his visits. He was ninth in the 2015 and 2016 events. In 2017, he finished in a brilliant seventh place when he followed a brave strategy by starting on slick tyres on a wet track.

5.451 meters long, the circuit of Shanghai combines long straights with medium and high-speed corners, and represents a tough challenge set-up wise since drivers are forced to make a compromise between good downforce levels and a solid Top Speed.

Tyres available for the weekend are the medium, soft and ultrasoft options from the Pirelli range. The latter should be the preferred option for the Qualifying session and for the opening stage of the race. Carlos will have two sets of the white compound, four of the yellow one and seven of the purple.

The Spaniard is eager to get out on track:

"I am really looking forward to driving tomorrow, mainly because China is a track that I like a lot. It has fast-flowing corners, corners that demand good downforce levels. The straight is very long and overtaking is feasible there, and it is the place where I had one of my best results last year".

"The main challenge will be setting-up the car for the straights and the corners, and taking care of the front tyres, which suffer a lot here".

"I want to get back to the competitiveness we showed in Australia. Bahrain was a tough weekend for us, but I am confident that we can be as fast as we were in Melbourne and be in front of the midfield".

The Chinese Grand Prix will begin on Friday with Free Practice 1 and Free Practice 2, which will be held at 10:00 and 14:00 local time, 04:00 and 08:00 Spanish time. As always, you will be able to get the latest news about Carlos via his Social Media channels and his official website www.carlossainz.es.