Sainz qualified second for his home race, but as has been the case in previous races, Ferrari's comparatively poor race pace made him slide backwards, his Ferrari struggling with the bumpy and fast nature of the Barcelona circuit as it was outclassed by Mercedes on tyre management.
After an early first pitstop, Sainz went from the soft onto the hard tyres, which allowed Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to breeze past him on fresher and faster mediums later on.
