At the 2024 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz finds himself seated in the Ferrari garage, comfortably settled in the cockpit.
Carlos Sainz has pointed to “inconsistencies” with the Ferrari SF-24 for his disappointing performance at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, admitting he was “not happy” after lagging behind team-mate Charles Leclerc at Imola.
Despite learning ahead of the new season that he will be replaced by Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari next year, Sainz has enjoyed his best-ever start to a campaign in F1 2024 and collected his third career victory at the Australian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz reveals Ferrari SF-24 ‘inconsistencies’ after poor Imola showing
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
In contrast, Leclerc has demonstrated remarkable resilience in the past few weeks, outperforming Sainz consistently. This streak includes three consecutive races in China, Miami, and Emilia Romagna, where Leclerc finished ahead of Sainz. Notably, his third-place finish at Imola marked a significant milestone for Ferrari, as it was the first time since 2006 that a Ferrari driver stood on the podium at this circuit, following in the footsteps of Michael Schumacher.
Leclerc started the race in third position on the grid after outqualifying Sainz by a margin of 0.263 seconds. He maintained a significant lead of 15 seconds over his teammate throughout the 63-lap race, with Oscar Piastri’s McLaren separating the two Ferrari drivers on the track.
After the race, Sainz expressed his frustration while speaking to the media, including Thomas Maher from PlanetF1.com. He mentioned that he had encountered an undisclosed aerodynamic problem and also faced difficulties with the ERS deployment, which both played a part in his slower performance.
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“He expressed his belief that our pace was significantly lacking.”
I’m not particularly happy because I strongly believe that we noticed a malfunction in the car after the qualifying session, which was not what we had anticipated.
“Today, I found myself in a race to minimize the damage caused by the deployment issues we encountered. It was a challenging day as we aimed to overcome the setbacks observed yesterday.”
To be honest, I’m feeling unhappy due to our recent underperformance and being slightly slower by a few tenths, which falls short of our desired standards.
Despite that, the race didn’t witness many significant events, especially when it comes to P5 and how it unfolded.
“The race was challenging and unenjoyable for me due to several inconsistencies with the car. I faced significant difficulties throughout the race.”
After qualifying, Sainz highlighted the nature of the problem with his car Ferrari. He mentioned that there was something related to the aerodynamics that needed to be investigated. Additionally, he faced deployment issues throughout the race, particularly in the first stint, which hindered his performance. These aspects require further examination.
After implementing a substantial upgrade package at Imola, Ferrari hoped to narrow the gap to Red Bull and McLaren. However, their performance was ultimately disappointing. The upgrade included modifications to the sidepods, floor, and rear wing.
After qualifying, Sainz claimed that the improvements had met his expectations, pointing out that the media had exaggerated the significance of the new parts leading up to the Emilia Romagna GP weekend.
When asked if the aero issue was connected to the new parts, Sainz responded, “No, I believe it’s a separate matter, but I can’t provide further information.”
Sainz emphasized the importance of Ferrari maintaining their ability to compete at the forefront. However, he admitted that enhancements are necessary for the Scuderia to contend with drivers like Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in qualifying circumstances.
He elaborated, saying, “In my opinion, Charles demonstrated impressive speed today, which resulted in us being engaged in a competitive race.”
“We appear to be able to compete with these opponents, but it appears that they possess a slight advantage over us in qualifying. This is an area we must investigate and continuously improve upon, as there will be tracks where strategy and overtaking opportunities are limited, as we witnessed at Imola.”
“While our one-lap pace needs improvement, it is reassuring to witness our strong performance in race pace.”
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