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 they’d been aggressive. Nevertheless, there’s additionally a word of optimism for tomorrow, as Carlos Sainz believes there’s potential for marked enchancment.
The time set throughout FP1 got here underneath particular monitor situations, with the circuit hotter and wind depth greater than in qualifying. Furthermore, whereas Leclerc pushed laborious to realize his time, Carlos Sainz appeared extra cautious in cornering.
Even so, the automobile felt good, and the car stability appeared to function inside a stable efficiency window. The hope was to extract a powerful end in qualifying, the place the SF-24 tends to wrestle, particularly when switching to smooth tires and needing to maximise grip within the closing phase.
Carlos Sainz defined that he didn’t focus an excessive amount of on the FP1 instances, however the suggestions was nonetheless optimistic by way of automobile stability: “I by no means attempt to learn an excessive amount of into FP1 since you by no means know the gasoline masses or engine modes the others are operating. The excellent news was that the automobile felt higher than anticipated by way of stability,” stated the Spaniard. Nevertheless, he admitted there have been nonetheless doubts concerning the qualifying end result.
A quick McLaren was anticipated, and this proved true, whereas Mercedes, on smoother asphalt, appeared in a position to exploit the aerodynamic load that had beforehand prompted bouncing points, forcing them to boost their experience top 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 may be quick right here, and that’s precisely what we noticed. I feel we didn’t absolutely optimize our package deal. Even on a clear lap, I had lots of understeer, which made it very tough.”
Site visitors additionally performed a job within the Spaniard’s first run, as he encountered Max Verstappen forward of him whereas trying his preliminary lap on smooth tires. Max Verstappen was not pushing however as a substitute 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 numerous soiled air. Plus, the automobile’s stability wasn’t optimum. We had lots of understeer with the tires, making it laborious to show the automobile.”
“I then needed to give the tires a breather for a few laps, and once I went for an additional lap, the understeer was nonetheless current. However I wanted to set a time, and that was sufficient for fourth place. It wasn’t straightforward underneath strain, and with this stability, it wasn’t easy as a result of it was straightforward to exceed monitor 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 smooth tires. Moreover, Carlos Sainz needed to cope with the danger of exceeding monitor limits on his closing 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 monitor limits. Since I misplaced the earlier lap, I simply had to verify I set a time. I feel tomorrow we’ll have the potential to enhance the automobile considerably, particularly with the smooth tires, and this could enable us to make progress,” Carlos Sainz added. After the dash race, groups may have a window to regulate setups, so what Ferrari learns as we speak may show essential.
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