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“Obviously [it] comes [as] a bonus this podium, because if not I think we would have been probably P5 on the road, which is where we were expecting to finish, as Oscar sooner or later was always going to pass us in the McLaren.
“We were still that half a tenth [or] a tenth behind George in race pace. But, yeah, happy. We put a solid race together and we’re on the podium, so [I’m] happy.”
HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from Austria as Russell snatches victory after dramatic Verstappen/Norris clash
Asked if he had felt that Ferrari had made a step relative to their performance last time out in Barcelona, Sainz answered: “I think it’s very tight with Merc.
“In the last two weekends they’ve been – or at least the faster Merc – has been a little bit quicker than the faster Ferrari [in] both cases, so we just need to make a step going into Silverstone if we want to fight up there.
“And now we’re going to focus on that, see if we can put together a solid weekend in Silverstone and edge them out, and then bring upgrades to make sure that we try to get closer to McLaren and Red Bull.
“Earlier in the season, obviously we could have benefitted more, like George did from the fight up front. The reality is that, at this stage of the season, we are just trailing the Merc and a step behind McLaren and Red Bull. We’ve had some issues in the car the last couple of races, which we are looking forward to resolving soon.”
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