F1 | Sainz: “Surprised by our pace. Good start to the season”

No surprises. Red Bull won the Bahrain Grand Prix and even scored a one-two with Max Verstappen ahead of Sergio Perez. But Ferrari moves to Jeddah, home of the second round of the season, thanks to the first podium of the season achieved by Carlos Sainz.

The Spaniard, after a complex start, began to recover with a good pace and thus showed the true potential of the SF-24 in the race. The red number 55 was the second force behind the Red Bulls, unable to fully count on the help of Charles Leclerc because he was slowed down by a brake problem.

Sainz, on the other hand, was solid both on the Softs with which he started and – above all – with the two new Hard sets that he used in the following two stints. This led him to compete in a race always trailing Perez, but he never had the real opportunity to fight for second place.

“I felt good on the track. I didn't start well, but then I managed to have a good pace, I managed the tires well, to impose my pace and I managed to get to the podium. We managed to keep up with the Red Bull and it's quite surprising. We still don't have the pace we would like, but it was definitely a better start to the season than last season.”

Ferrari focused on the Hard compounds in this race, because they were better suited to the characteristics of the SF-24s. The Red Bulls, on the other hand, saved 2 sets of new Softs to use them in the race and this proved to be a good move, especially in the fight for second place.

“We had the plan to start with the Softs and then put on the Hards because we feel more comfortable with the hard tires due to the degradation. It is a harder tire and more difficult to warm up, but when you bring it up to temperature you can then really push a lot. We saw that Red Bull used a different strategy, but the beauty of F1 is also playing with strategies.”

Once the first race of the season has been archived, the second arrives immediately. Next week the world champion Circus will race the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah. Sainz predicts the usual Red Bull and McLaren as the reference cars because they are very strong on fast corners.

“Every circuit we go to with these cars, which are new, will be a surprise. I expect McLaren and Red Bull, who were very strong in the high-speed corners last year, to be very competitive. But we have also improved a lot in those types of corners and we hope to be strong too.”