Ferrari is going to change the gearbox and engines of Carlos Sainz Jr

Carlos Sainz had a scare. After being involved in an accident during FP2, a first red flag was brought out. Some time later, it was Niko Hülkenberg who caused the second one, significantly shortening the test session time. Despite his accident, Carlos Sainz will not receive any penalties.

Ferrari had planned to replace the entire power unit of their driver as well as the gearbox during the weekend. These are components that have already been used during the season, avoiding a repeat of the 10-place penalty received in Las Vegas last week for a change in energy storage.

The damage to the Ferrari resembles a junkyard on the national road 20. We had planned to change the engines and gearbox, so we’ll see, but the chassis also took a hit, explained Fred Vasseur, the director of the Scuderia Ferrari after the second practice session.

Track issues

Following his accident, Carlos Sainz is facing a new track problem. If last week it was a manhole cover, this time it would be a bump found on the circuit. “For some reason, there has been a change on the track,” said Sainz about his accident. “There are two bumps, one at the exit of turn 2 and one at the entrance of turn 3, which, with this new generation of cars, are causing a lot of disruption. It almost surprised me during Free Practice 1. I made some changes in the setup and trajectory to get rid of it. And then, for some reason again, in this lap, it surprised me. It must have been an angle or the way I took the bump. From there, I was just a spectator.”

With this new incident, Carlos Sainz points out a recurring issue with the 2023 version of the Ferrari. « We have already seen with this generation of cars that one of these small bumps can really spin us around, causing a quite serious accident », he testified. « It’s not ideal, but that’s how it is. We will try to do better tomorrow. »

Settings that haven’t paid off

Carlos Sainz had tried a new setup for FP2 after feeling the bump during the first session. « We definitely made some changes from the first free practice session to the second one, which could have had an effect », he added. « But obviously, I won’t go into detail about it. We shouldn’t be penalized, so everything is good for the rest of the weekend. »

Ferrari therefore has all the cards in hand to try to surpass Mercedes for the last race of the season. The “Gris”, in second place, have a lead of four small points over their Italian pursuers.