Carlos Sainz’s third place in the Austrian Grand Prix is oxygen for Ferrari. There are several reasons. The Scuderia had not brought home any trophies since Leclerc’s Monaco win and was coming off very difficult weekends in Montreal and Barcelona. Even the Spielberg weekend, up until the sixty-fourth of the seventy-one scheduled laps, did not seem destined for great smiles, then the accident between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris arrived to transform Sainz’s fifth position into a more prestigious placement.
It’s not a great moment for the Scuderia, the role of anti-Red Bull is far away and now Mercedes has also positioned itself in front. It’s true, the margins are very small and recovering them (even from one weekend to the next) is not a prohibitive undertaking, but this is a discussion that is valid in the direct comparison with the Russell/Hamilton tandem, certainly not with McLaren (which has nibbled away another ten points from Ferrari in the Constructors’ standings) and Red Bull, indeed, the number 1 Red Bull. While McLaren and Mercedes are growing, Ferrari is jumping, as the drivers and the general standings say.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24, overtakes Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W15
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Vasseur’s interpretation focuses on what could have been possible, a message that invites caution by outlining a scenario in which the change of pace could come quickly.
“Yesterday in qualifying when Charles arrived at Turn 3 he was a tenth ahead of Norris – he explained – it means that if we complete that lap, and I know perfectly well that we have to complete the lap, the perception would have been completely different”.
“We improved the car before qualifying – continued the Scuderia team principal – and I think it will be useful for us to be able to do two free practice sessions at Silverstone on Friday. We had some good weekends, where we were faster than everyone, weekends where we were at Max’s level, and other weekends where we lost ground. But the reaction was good and I think we were in much better shape on Saturday. Silverstone will be useful to us, we have ideas in the pipeline, we have updates that will arrive later.”
In addition to the SF-24, which confirmed its fourth position, Leclerc was also missing at Silverstone. There was also a dose of bad luck on the contact that compromised his race right after the start, but it is true that the risks increase in proportion with each row that is lost in qualifying.
![Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24](https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/YMdqvZ12/s1000/charles-leclerc-ferrari-sf-24-.jpg)
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Friday afternoon’s mistake in the sprint qualifying, added to the one in the Grand Prix qualifying, had a major impact on Leclerc’s weekend. “I’m very happy that the race is over,” commented Charles immediately at the end of a race that ended in the bud. The consequences of a negative weekend are evident, given that Leclerc did not hide his concern even in view of next weekend at Silverstone.
“I feel it will be a difficult weekend, if we look at the last three weekends it is clear that we have had difficulties and at the moment we do not yet have the magic solution”. “There are very few coincidences in Formula 1 – Leclerc continued speaking about the problems that emerged in coincidence with the latest technical update – especially when we can evaluate two consecutive weekends. We need to analyse the situation, we have made a step forward but there are other limitations that need to be examined to try to eliminate the problems definitively”.
In this scenario, Sainz’s solidity stands out. Carlos leaves Spielberg with a good haul and a strengthened position in the standings (fourth). His race was heavily focused on the last stint, when he had a set of new mediums available against Russell’s hards, but the possibility of closing in on Mercedes vanished with Oscar Piastri’s comeback.
“It is still a positive result – commented Carlos – which repays us after the difficult start to the weekend. There were some twists and turns in the race today but I think we showed good pace, fighting with the Mercedes for a place on the podium. Unfortunately, after the accident between the two leading cars I was unable to contain Piastri’s comeback, his McLaren proved to be very fast here in Austria”.
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