Sainz favours Magnussen pole: 'Big fan of him'

The battle for pole position seemed to be between Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull Racing again in Brazil on Friday, but nothing could be further from the truth. Kevin Magnussen took advantage of the severe weather conditions and will therefore start Saturday's race from first position. For Carlos Sainz, qualifying was less successful, he acknowledged to Sky Sports.

With Ferrari, the Spaniard failed to set a time in the sessions that put him among the first three drivers. In Q3, he ended up no further than the fifth final spot, which will put him ahead of Magnussen, Max Verstappen, George Russell and Lando Norris in the sprint race.

"I tried to push a lot and over pushed and did a couple of big moments that probably cost me P2 or P3 today," stated Sainz, who is happy for Magnussen. "P1 today Kevin deserves that. I am a big fan of him and I am happy for him."

For Sainz, the sprint race will be important for the weekend. This is because the driver has been handed a five-place penalty for replacing his engine, which applies to the race. It will therefore be important for Sainz to move towards the top three.

"Tomorrow is the day to go for it, and try to finish in the podium and then get the five place penalty. For the moment, its five place penalty, but today we survived a very difficult conditions," said Sainz, who sees teammate Charles Leclerc starting from P10.