Like his teammate Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz didn’t disguise his disappointment with a session from which he had anticipated extra, particularly as the problems encountered in qualifying caught Ferrari off guard after a promising FP1 the place that they had been aggressive. Nevertheless, there may be additionally a observe of optimism for tomorrow, as Carlos Sainz believes there may be potential for marked enchancment.
The time set throughout FP1 got here underneath particular observe circumstances, with the circuit hotter and wind depth increased than in qualifying. Furthermore, whereas Leclerc pushed arduous to realize his time, Carlos Sainz appeared extra cautious in cornering.
Even so, the automobile felt good, and the automobile steadiness appeared to function inside a strong efficiency window. The hope was to extract a robust end in qualifying, the place the SF-24 tends to battle, particularly when switching to mushy tires and needing to maximise grip within the remaining phase.
Carlos Sainz defined that he didn’t focus an excessive amount of on the FP1 occasions, however the suggestions was nonetheless optimistic by way of automobile steadiness: “I by no means attempt to learn an excessive amount of into FP1 since you by no means know the gas masses or engine modes the others are working. The excellent news was that the automobile felt higher than anticipated by way of steadiness,” mentioned the Spaniard. Nevertheless, he admitted there have been nonetheless doubts in regards to the qualifying final result.
A quick McLaren was anticipated, and this proved true, whereas Mercedes, on smoother asphalt, appeared capable of exploit the aerodynamic load that had beforehand brought about bouncing points, forcing them to boost their trip peak and lose grip in high-speed corners.
Throughout qualifying, Carlos Sainz confronted two issues: site visitors and understeer. “We approached qualifying already involved that our rivals is perhaps quick right here, and that’s precisely what we noticed. I believe we didn’t totally optimize our bundle. Even on a clear lap, I had quite a lot of understeer, which made it very tough.”
Site visitors additionally performed a task within the Spaniard’s first run, as he encountered Max Verstappen forward of him whereas making an attempt his preliminary lap on mushy tires. Max Verstappen was not pushing however as an alternative making ready his tires for a quick lap. With soiled air from Max Verstappen’s automobile, Carlos Sainz aborted his lap, barely disrupting his run plan in comparison with others.
“Sadly, I discovered myself in a state of affairs the place I did the primary and second sectors with Max Verstappen forward as he was making ready his tires, so I had various soiled air. Plus, the automobile’s steadiness wasn’t optimum. We had quite a lot of understeer with the tires, making it arduous to show the automobile.”
“I then needed to give the tires a breather for a few laps, and once I went for one more lap, the understeer was nonetheless current. However I wanted to set a time, and that was sufficient for fourth place. It wasn’t simple underneath stress, and with this steadiness, it wasn’t simple as a result of it was simple to exceed observe limits. Now we all know what’s lacking for tomorrow.”
The main target is on addressing or mitigating the understeer skilled all through qualifying, which grew to become much more pronounced in SQ3 with the mushy tires. Moreover, Carlos Sainz needed to cope with the chance of exceeding observe limits on his remaining try, given he hadn’t set a time on his first run.
“Principally, I couldn’t get the automobile to show all through the lap. It was a tough lap as a result of it was my solely probability to set a time, so I couldn’t take too many dangers with observe limits. Since I misplaced the earlier lap, I simply had to ensure I set a time. I believe tomorrow we’ll have the potential to enhance the automobile considerably, particularly with the mushy tires, and this could permit us to make progress,” Carlos Sainz added. After the dash race, groups may have a window to regulate setups, so what Ferrari learns in the present day may show essential.
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