Like his teammate Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz didn’t cover 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’s additionally a be aware of optimism for tomorrow, as Carlos Sainz believes there’s potential for marked enchancment.
The time set throughout FP1 got here underneath particular observe situations, with the circuit hotter and wind depth increased than in qualifying. Furthermore, whereas Leclerc pushed exhausting to realize his time, Carlos Sainz appeared extra cautious in cornering.
Even so, the automotive felt good, and the automobile steadiness appeared to function inside a stable efficiency window. The hope was to extract a robust lead to qualifying, the place the SF-24 tends to battle, particularly when switching to tender tires and needing to maximise grip within the remaining section.
Carlos Sainz defined that he didn’t focus an excessive amount of on the FP1 occasions, however the suggestions was nonetheless optimistic when it comes to automotive steadiness: “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 automotive felt higher than anticipated when it comes to steadiness,” mentioned the Spaniard. Nevertheless, he admitted there have been nonetheless doubts in regards to 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 triggered bouncing points, forcing them to lift their journey 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 could be quick right here, and that’s precisely what we noticed. I believe we didn’t absolutely optimize our package deal. Even on a clear lap, I had plenty of understeer, which made it very troublesome.”
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 tender tires. Max Verstappen was not pushing however as a substitute getting ready his tires for a quick lap. With soiled air from Max Verstappen’s automotive, Carlos Sainz aborted his lap, barely disrupting his run plan in comparison with others.
“Sadly, I discovered myself in a scenario the place I did the primary and second sectors with Max Verstappen forward as he was getting ready his tires, so I had various soiled air. Plus, the automotive’s steadiness wasn’t optimum. We had plenty of understeer with the tires, making it exhausting to show the automotive.”
“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 steadiness, it wasn’t easy as a result of it was straightforward to exceed observe limits. Now we all know what’s lacking for tomorrow.”
The main focus is on addressing or mitigating the understeer skilled all through qualifying, which grew to become much more pronounced in SQ3 with the tender tires. Moreover, Carlos Sainz needed to take care of the chance of exceeding observe limits on his remaining try, given he hadn’t set a time on his first run.
“Mainly, I couldn’t get the automotive to show all through the lap. It was a troublesome lap as a result of it was my solely likelihood 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 verify I set a time. I believe tomorrow we’ll have the potential to enhance the automotive considerably, particularly with the tender 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 at this time may show essential.
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