Carlos Sainz was at a loss to explain McLaren's impressive performance during Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying.
Both the Spaniard and teammate Lando Norris made Q3 under the lights, with Sainz less than a tenth behind Kevin Magnussen in the battle for 'best of the rest'.
“Congratulations to all the team, because we got both cars in Q3, which is something that hasn’t happened for a long time at this team,” Sainz stated, with Singapore 2017 the last time it occurred.
“It shows we are working well, we are going in the right direction. A tough winter and the second half of last year trying to understand the problems with last year’s car is now starting to pay off.
“We are learning, we are improving the car and today we are here, nearly as the best of the rest, which was unthinkable three or four months ago. We were half a tenth off this.”
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Not only that, the McLaren driver finished within a second of pole and ahead of some key names, including both Renaults.
“It’s hard to understand why we are so close or why everything has tightened up,” Sainz continued.
“It’s better, more fun for the spectators. I think today we nearly beat a Red Bull and we were nearly two seconds behind last year.
“We beat a Red Bull, Gasly, actually. It’s all a bit strange but that’s better.”
As for Norris, P10 in Bahrain backed up his P8 from qualifying in Australia.
“To have both cars in Q3 is very positive for the team, we’ve taken some small steps forward,” said the rookie. “It gives us a lot of confidence, for all of us.
“I made a couple of mistakes here and there, nothing big, a little lock-up into turn 10 which is quite tricky. I pushed a little too much but it’s still Q3, and I’m pretty happy with that.”
The big test will come on Sunday as McLaren try to convert their starting position into solid points.
That didn't happen with Norris in Melbourne and Sainz will be very keen to avoid the poor reliability which cost him two weeks ago.
