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 they’d been aggressive. Nonetheless, 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 beneath particular observe situations, with the circuit hotter and wind depth greater than in qualifying. Furthermore, whereas Leclerc pushed exhausting to attain his time, Carlos Sainz appeared extra cautious in cornering.
Even so, the automotive felt good, and the car steadiness appeared to function inside a strong efficiency window. The hope was to extract a robust lead to qualifying, the place the SF-24 tends to battle, particularly when switching to gentle 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 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 gas masses or engine modes the others are working. The excellent news was that the automotive felt higher than anticipated when it comes to steadiness,” stated the Spaniard. Nonetheless, he admitted there have been nonetheless doubts in regards to the qualifying consequence.
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 precipitated bouncing points, forcing them to lift their experience top and lose grip in high-speed corners.
Throughout qualifying, Carlos Sainz confronted two issues: 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 bundle. Even on a clear lap, I had loads 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 gentle tires. Max Verstappen was not pushing however as an alternative 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 state of affairs the place I did the primary and second sectors with Max Verstappen forward as he was getting ready his tires, so I had numerous soiled air. Plus, the automotive’s steadiness wasn’t optimum. We had loads 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 after 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 beneath stress, 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 target is on addressing or mitigating the understeer skilled all through qualifying, which turned much more pronounced in SQ3 with the gentle tires. Moreover, Carlos Sainz needed to cope with the danger of exceeding observe limits on his closing try, given he hadn’t set a time on his first run.
“Principally, I couldn’t get the automotive to show all through the lap. It was a tough 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 feel tomorrow we’ll have the potential to enhance the automotive considerably, particularly with the gentle 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 at the moment may show essential.
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