Sainz says key Ferrari flaw makes F1 car progress irrelevant in glum assessment
Carlos Sainz has bemoaned a flaw in Ferrari 's car which has stunted their hopes of making any progress this season.
The Scuderia were Red Bull's closest challengers last season, with Charles Leclerc finishing as runner-up to champions Max Verstappen. But they failed to build on that platform, with the current season being little short of a disaster for the Italian team.
Sainz finds himself sixth in the drivers' championship, with Leclerc seventh and just one podium finish between them. Meanwhile in the constructors' championship, Ferrari sit behind Red Bull, Mercedes and Aston Martin in the standings.
It means there is an air of a lost season around the team as the F1 circus arrives in Spa for the Belgian Grand Prix. And though he believes things will improve, Sainz has admitted the current design is presenting problems.
“It's just very unfortunate that the car was born with some characteristics that make us very sensitive to track conditions, to track characteristics, to temperatures, winds," the Ferrari star said.
New Ferrari chief reacts to Mohammed ben Sulayem scandals and the FIA's F1 storm
"Because of that, it doesn't matter how much progress you do over the season… you're still going to be very sensitive to these things. Honestly, I feel like we've made quite a bit of progress.
“It's just that there's a team or a couple of teams out there, like McLaren and Mercedes, that are doing very big progress, and it makes it look like you might not have done as much. It's quite tricky, especially in (the) budget era, it's quite tricky to suddenly change everything.
HAVE YOUR SAY! Who will win the Belgian Grand Prix? Comment below.
Sainz has been unhappy with the performance of his car“We are back in the factory, in the simulator developing that car, and trying to make amends to what we did this year. I'm confident that it's going to be better, but I'm pretty sure everyone is also going to make a pretty big step next year again, so we just need to focus on ourselves.”
Though Sainz is pessimistic of Ferrari's chances of making progress this season, team principal Frederic Vasseur is confident that improvements can be made as the sport heads into its summer break.
"The most important thing is to be focused on ourselves, to try to get the best from what we have, to minimise the mistakes, do a better job and then comes what will come," he said.
"To catch up, it's not that you are thinking about the Red Bull and thinking what do we have to do? We have to work on ourselves. We are developing, we are developing on every single direction, we are trying to improve aero, suspension and whatever we can do.
"We are pushing like hell to do a better job. But if you have a look also, and I think this is crucial, with the bouncing and so on it's not when you are bringing an upgrade that you are making a huge step forward.
“We brought big things in Barcelona, and we were potentially better the week after. It means that the understanding of the upgrade is also crucial. And it's not just about making a headine package."
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
