Third in Las Vegas and author of his eighth podium of the 2024 Formula 1 season, Carlos Sainz was satisfied with having made the most of his Ferrari behind the untouchable Mercedes F1, but he regretted on the other hand the lack of efficiency of his team on an operational level, since he notably had to abort a pit stop at the last second which cost him a lot of time.
“There were more challenges than we expected. At the same time, I think Mercedes simply had the fastest car, the fastest package. I think George and Lewis did a very good job. race On our side, we had too much difficulty with the graining, more than we expected and yes, this meant that we could not push on the tires. We had to save so much that we could not use the. pace of the car And yes, we just were. not fast enough. It wasn’t our day.”
“We just lacked execution in general. We didn’t have a very good race. I think we stayed out one lap too many on the mediums, two laps too many on the hards. And at the time I was going to enter the pits, we had this messy radio communication in the pit entrance, which probably made me lose a lot of time and where I had to let Charles pass, plus the two or three seconds that I I lost in the pit entrance. That means a lot. of racing time which would perhaps have allowed us to fight with Lewis.”
“It shows that in this sport you have to do things perfectly every weekend. We have done things very well in terms of strategy and race management throughout the year. But this time, it is not “It wasn’t our day. We didn’t do things right and we’ll have to learn from that to come back stronger in Qatar.”
‘No one is happy’ with how the race went at Ferrari
Carlos Sainz also understands why his teammate Charles Leclerc was unhappy that the two Ferraris had to reverse positions at certain points in the race (read here), with the Spanish driver once again highlighting operational issues.
“Yes, I think there was some graining on the medium tires and I managed to get ahead before the pit stop on the mediums. Then I had some graining on my hard tires and it was coming up quickly behind me I anticipated the situation, because Lewis was right behind Charles at the time, and I was pretty sure the team was going to ask me to let Charles pass because he was faster. I had very worn tires, I asked the team two or three times to stop me, move me out of the line and give me a new set of hard tires to make sure I didn’t lose a lot of race time by being ahead letting Charles pass and having to fight Lewis at the same time.”
“For one reason or another we didn’t do it and I had to let Charles pass a lap later than planned, which caused me to lose a lot of race time. And just as I was going to stop, I didn’t end up coming home so I guess he’s not happy, but I’m also not happy with the way things were handled. And yeah, I don’t think anyone is. is happy in the team because we all expected a little more. I’m on the podium, so at least I got that for the team. But at the same time, I don’t think we could have finished better than third and fourth.
Sainz has little hope of regaining points at McLaren F1 in Qatar
Ferrari has nevertheless regained valuable points from McLaren F1 in the constructors’ championship, the Scuderia now 24 points behind the British team with two races remaining in the season. But according to Carlos Sainz, it will be difficult for the prancing horse to do as well as in Las Vegas this weekend in Qatar.
“We just have to try to maximize what we have. I think we’ve done a good job over the last few weekends. We got the maximum with a second place in qualifying, then in the race our maximum was a third place. Qatar, the maximum could be a fifth or a sixth place because with this car, at a circuit like Qatar, I expect to struggle and I expect McLaren and Mercedes to be very strong. Probably even Red. Bull, given that they were also strong in qualifying in Austin So yes, I think it will be a very difficult weekend for us. That’s why it was important for us to get the maximum points available, and that’s what we did with the pace. that we had.”
After the cold of Nevada, the pilots will have to manage the intense heat of Qatar in just a few days. Sainz, for his part, believes that the drivers are sufficiently prepared and fit to deal with this, but he still expects that no one will be in full possession of their means.
“It’s thanks to the fitness you’ve built up over the first part of the year and keeping yourself fit and healthy. It will be a shock to the body, but if you’re in Fit, healthy and have managed to keep warm in Vegas, not catch a cold, take melatonin when you need to and fall asleep when you need to, you should be able to do it. But I think you can. no one will be in great shape in Qatar.”
