Ferrari boss, Frederic Vasseur admits to being particularly delighted with Carlos Sainz' performance at Monza, believing thet Spaniard took a significant step forward.

Having taken pole in a thrilling shootout with Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, Sainz absorbed the pressure from his Ferrari teammate on Sunday to take the final podium position.

IF the battle between the two Ferrari drivers was one of the race's main highlights, Sainz deserves the credit for soaking up the pressure whilst giving a masterful performance in defensive driving.

"It's the first time that we are able to fight with Red Bull, but the Red Bull pace was better than us for sure," admits Vasseur. "But we were able to stay to match them for a good part of the race. And for sure it was the best weekend overall.

"I'm more than pleased also for Carlos," he adds, "because I think he did a step forward. Not necessarily in qualifying and the race, but I would say also into the preparation of the weekend... from lap one of FP1 he was there. And it's a good lesson also for the rest of the season."

"I've done other strong weekends in F1 that maybe got a bit unnoticed when I was in the midfield where I felt I extracted everything out of the car," said Sainz.

"But of this year, for sure, of my Ferrari career probably it's the best. Of my F1 career, it's a tough call but I felt like this weekend I was on it from the beginning, comfortable with the car especially over one lap. I felt really, really at home.

"I could put together strong laps and snatch pole but the race was again a bit tougher and it shows me exactly where we need to keep working on.

"I will put my head down and keep pushing the team to keep working on our tyre understanding and our race pace understanding."

However, while Vasseur and Leclerc are understood to be working hard on agreeing a new contract, it's believed that talks with Sainz are currently on hold, a situation that has not pleased the Spaniard.