F1 | Sainz: “The innovations don’t work, 2 months of development lost”

The fifth place finish, a full 47 seconds off the top, is certainly not the result Ferrari was hoping for before the British weekend, but considering the way the weekend went, it is perhaps the best position the Prancing Horse could have hoped for. The fast corners put the SF-24 in trouble, which chose to definitively return to the Imola package to reduce the amount of bouncing in the fastest sections and have a more predictable car.

A clear signal of the difficulties experienced by Ferrari in the last few events, because going back on new things is never a good sign, even if this discussion is linked to specific characteristics on a selective track.

Regardless of the upgrade considerations, Sainz said he was satisfied with his fifth place finish, also thanks to some good strategic choices at key moments which, even if they did not change his race, still represent a small satisfaction while waiting for better times.

“I think we did our best. I’m satisfied with the race because, even if we weren’t fast enough in dry or wet conditions, we got all the pitstop calls right, especially halfway through the race when we had slicks in the wet, and I managed to move up to the podium positions,” said the Spaniard who, in fact, was among the drivers who identified the right moment together with the team both to switch to intermediates and to return to slicks when the track was gradually drying.

“We started fighting for the podium, but unfortunately, as soon as the track became completely wet or completely dry, we were not fast enough.”

“To be honest, I had studied the weather conditions with my engineers, so I was confident, going into the race, that I could make the right choices today. We did some good laps in FP1 and FP2 to understand the different conditions and make sure we were ready. We had a very good race. Honestly, all the calls were right, all the tyres, all the radio calls,” added the Spaniard who, together with the team, made the right choice in fitting the hard instead of the soft for the final stint, although, given the advantage over the rivals behind him and the performance deficit compared to the top three teams, it did not have a decisive impact on his race.

The regret is that we did not have a faster car with which to play for a better result, given that the strategic choices were spot on: “It’s just a shame we were not faster in the first part of the race, on the intermediate tyre, or at the end, because I think we would have been 100% fighting for the podium or the win. In addition, we took a bonus point at the end with the fastest lap,” added the Madrid native who, taking advantage of his large advantage over Nico Hulkenberg, was able to fit the soft tyre in the final laps to set the fastest lap of the race, guaranteeing Ferrari the additional point.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

Clearly, at the end of such a difficult triptych for the Reds, it is inevitable to draw some conclusions on the performance of the new aerodynamic package, discarded for this last race in England after a comparison made on Friday with the updates introduced in Imola. The fast corners highlighted the bouncing once again, adding a further problem to an aspect in which, in reality, the SF-24 was already lacking compared to McLaren and Red Bull. Not even the Imola package completely eliminated the bouncing phenomenon, but it made it more manageable.

“It is clear that the performance of the car with the new updates is not good enough. We are basically back to the same car as Imola and since Imola everyone has made improvements, probably adding two tenths of performance, while we had to go back,” commented the Spaniard, who then underlined how the fact that this package has not worked as expected weighs not only on the performance level, but also on the time spent designing them compared to rivals.

“We lost two or three months of development, in terms of performance improvements in the wind tunnel or performance that we could have achieved in these months. It is clear that we have not made the right decisions recently. However, it seems to me that today we have returned to the basics, to a car that is the same as the one we had in Imola and from here on we just have to improve. But it is clear that our rivals are a good step ahead of us”.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images

According to Sainz, the prospects for Hungary can allow us to look to the next event with greater confidence, especially because there will be fewer very high-speed corners that will accentuate the phenomenon of rebounds. However, it is clear that the problems will not disappear in a few days and that, until there are innovations designed to combat this defect, the drivers will also have to adapt to the limits and compromises that must be made with this version of the SF-24.

“The Hungarian track is slower, although we will probably still have some bouncing in turns 4 and 11, but until there is something better, we may have to live with these bounces to get better performance in the low-speed corners,” Sainz said when asked if, on a slower track like the Hungaroring, it made sense to fit the package that debuted in Barcelona and which, according to the drivers, has nevertheless guaranteed an increase in total downforce.

“On the contrary, on high-speed tracks we may be forced to use the bottom of this package [il pacchetto Imola]because otherwise the other [quello del pacchetto Barcellona] it is undriveable. For now, in the situation we are in, I trust that the team will make the right choices from circuit to circuit, until a more solid package arrives, which does not generate rebounds at high speeds and, at the same time, is good at low speeds. Then we will start thinking about fighting with the top three teams again”, added the Madrid native.