Carlos Sainz: “McLaren’s evolutions work every time”
The Ferrari driver was keen to talk about the performance of the various teams at the Italian Grand Prix, and in particular that of McLaren, his former team. He paid tribute to their work, explaining that the British team always manages to perform better after the introduction of new developments, which is not the case for other teams.
“McLaren is the best car on the grid”. This statement, made by Carlos Sainz two months ago, seems even more significant today in light of the recent results achieved by the Woking team. Last week in the Netherlands, McLaren and Lando Norris dominated the competition, with the young Briton claiming his second victory of the season and of his career with over 20 seconds ahead of his closest competitor, Max Verstappen. A just reward for all the hard work put in by the team in recent months, positioning them now as the team to beat at the moment, according to Carlos Sainz.
The Spaniard, former driver of the team in 2019 and 2020, wanted to congratulate McLaren, considering that it has now surpassed all its rivals by achieving the feat of bringing improvements that make the car a little faster each time.
« They proved in the last races that they had the fastest car on the track, and we are trying to implement all these improvements that sometimes work, sometimes not. The only ones who seem to know exactly how to make an improvement and make it work are McLaren at the moment. The others, we are trying to find our way », analyzed the Spanish driver referring to the three other top teams.
Different destinies for Red Bull, McLaren, and Ferrari.
The Austrian team had started the year 2024 in the same way as they had ended the 2023 season, notably winning four of the first five races of the season thanks to their driver Verstappen and achieving three one-two finishes. However, for several races now, the team managed by Christian Horner no longer seems capable of achieving such performances and has not won a Grand Prix in the last five races. A less well-balanced and more energy-consuming car on the tires makes the task more difficult for the drivers. Upon arriving in Monza, the team nevertheless hopes to solve all these issues.
« At the moment, it’s just important that we focus on ourselves and try to correct a few balance issues that we have, and that’s what we’re going to try to do this weekend, said the three-time Dutch world champion. « But it’s a bit difficult at the moment to say if things are different or sorted, we need the weekend to sort this out. »
« We have a few ideas that we are going to try. The track is also new with the tarmac and the curbs, so we need to see how the car reacts to that. And, yes, I suppose we will see how it goes throughout the weekend,” Verstappen concluded, counting on the new asphalt at Monza to beat McLaren again.
On Ferrari’s side, the observation is similar. At the beginning of the season, the Italian team was the only one able to compete with Red Bull, even winning a race in Australia with Carlos Sainz before triumphing in Monaco with local hero Charles Leclerc. However, since that victory, Ferrari has struggled to fight for the top spot, being overtaken by McLaren in the team standings and now having to battle with Mercedes for podiums. Despite this, Sainz approaches the last races with confidence, the Italian team riding a positive momentum with two consecutive podiums thanks to a regained race pace and introducing upgrades this weekend. The Spaniard remains cautious, however, as Ferrari had failed with its latest developments.
« We will try to do it this weekend and I hope that this can give us a little more performance. I think we have to wait and see the new track, the new tarmac, the improvements,” he told Sky Sports. « See where we stand on Friday, then decide if we are going to fight for pole position or victory, or if we are going to fight for the podium, top five or top eight. Only time will tell. »
Finally, for McLaren, the situation is quite different. Starting the season in a close fight with Mercedes, it gradually caught up with the two leading teams thanks to two major developments. In Miami, the Woking team brought its first comprehensive package with no less than 10 new parts. Among them, a new beam wing, a new front wing, and reworked suspensions. These innovations immediately paid off, as Norris had won the Florida round.
In the Netherlands, McLaren brought a major new upgrade with 6 new improvements that worked perfectly again, Norris winning the Grand Prix with a comfortable lead. Arriving at the Monza track, McLaren emerges as the main favorite. The other teams will therefore have to work hard to hope to catch up with the British team before the end of the season.
