Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz drove a great come back drive to finish 9th after starting 2oth in Sunday’s Canadian Grand Prix.

Sainz started 20th after crashing in Q1 on Saturday. The crash damaged his gearbox which dropped him 5-places down the grid eventually starting in 20th.

From the start Sainz charged through the field making up 4 places in the first lap. A relatively early pit stop around lap 12 for the soft tyre gave him the space he needed to put in some really quick laps to make the under cut work for him where he made up a further 2 places. By around lap 36 he was already in 9th. A second stop for ultra soft tyres around lap 48 all but secured his 9th place finish earning himself and his team 2 championship points.

“A really good race for me today here in Montreal!” exclaimed Sainz

“If you had told me before the race that I would have finished in P9 after starting P20, I would’ve probably signed immediately!

“I’m really happy to have made it back into the points, I enjoyed it a lot out there.

“We chose the right moment for our first pit-stop, going for the undercut, and I then did five or six qualifying laps on the Soft tyre, which allowed me to overtake five or six cars and keep up with the Force India.

“Even if I hadn’t made yesterday’s mistake in qualifying, more than a P8 this weekend was impossible, so we can be happy and satisfied with our weekend.

“A result like today’s shows that we are strong and that we are constantly improving.

“Today we did the right strategy and good pit-stops, so I’d like to congratulate the whole team for this weekend, it’s been great!”

Toro Rosso Team Principal has this to say about Sainz’s 9th place finish: “Carlos drove a fantastic race.

He overtook a few of his rivals during the first lap and thanks to a very good strategy and fast pit-stops, he was able to gain a total of 11 positions, scoring two valuable points for the team. ”

Photo credit: Scuderia Toro Rosso Formula One