Sainz: “Ferrari lost two to three months of development”
After finishing 5th at the British Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz managed to collect 10 points for his team. A worrying situation, however, for the Spaniard who believes that the team is drifting further away from the front of the race due to unsuccessful developments on the car.
Following their triumph in Monaco, Ferrari was thought to be back in the race for victory and capable of challenging Red Bull. However, since this double podium, the Maranello team has struggled to find its pace again, seeing McLaren and Mercedes dangerously closing in on the constructors’ standings. Aware of currently being the fourth force on the grid, Ferrari must react quickly, as the Spanish driver explains.
« This is clearly not good enough. We essentially have the same car as in Imola and, since Imola, everyone has improved the car, probably by adding two tenths, and we had to go backwards. We lost two or three months of wind tunnel performance gain or performance that we could have added over those three months, so it is clear that we have not made the right decisions lately. » The Italian team has thus “returned to basics” in its own words, following improvements made in Spain that failed and exacerbated the bounce problems of the SF-24, especially in high-speed corners.
« I think that today was at least a return to basics, a return to a car that was at Imola, and we just have to improve it from there. But it is clear that our rivals have a good lead over us. » At Silverstone, Sainz, despite a very good race and a well-optimized strategy, crossed the finish line with a 47-second delay, certainly by making an extra pit stop, but highlighting Ferrari’s current inability to compete with Mercedes and McLaren in race pace.
While other teams are making progress, Ferrari is stalling. At Silverstone, the team tested two different car specifications: Leclerc had the new upgrades while his teammate reverted back to the Imola specification. Unfortunately, the latter seems to work better, providing the car with better stability. A necessary but alarming step back in the current context, where Ferrari keeps losing points to its rivals, who on their side are improving their cars.
Sainz remains confident about the future.
With different types of circuits set to arrive on the calendar, uncertainty reigns within the Italian team, which will likely have to alternate between the old and the new car to adapt to the type of circuit that will be proposed to them.
We will bounce in turns 4 and 11 in Hungary, but until something better comes along, we may have to live with the bounce for a while. On high-speed circuits, we may have to use the [old] package’s floor, because otherwise, the other one is undriveable.
Meanwhile, the Spanish driver remains confident in his team’s ability to bounce back: “I trust the team to make the right decisions circuit by circuit until a stronger package, one that doesn’t bounce at high speed and is good at low speed, arrives. Then, we will start thinking about fighting again against the top three teams.” The coming weeks could be crucial for the Maranello team, which must quickly find solutions to avoid falling further behind.
