F1 | Sainz: “The new package for Imola doesn’t change life”

The future is more than nebulous, the present with less expectations than people expect. This is how we could summarize the press conference that Carlos Sainz held at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari in Imola, home of the Made in Italy and Emilia Romagna Formula 1 Grand Prix scheduled for this weekend.

The Ferrari driver remains at the center of attention for being one of the most important transfer market players. But there is a but: in recent weeks, perhaps also thanks to the trips that brought the world champion Circus back to the Old Continent, the market has not moved.

Immobile like a rock also protected from atmospheric agents. Unscratchable and waiting for something that changes the status quo of things.

“Unfortunately I don’t have any updates on my future,” the Madrid native immediately admitted, having been pressed about his future right from the start of the conference. “Simply because in the last 3 weeks there have been no advanced discussions with anyone. There have just been normal conversations.”

“I thought the situation would be resolved sooner than what is happening, but the market is moving slowly. That’s why there is no news every 2 weeks. Nobody makes any progress, so the situation always remains the same.”

After the inaction linked to the drivers’ market, Sainz spoke about another topic so dear to Ferrari fans. That is, the aerodynamic package that the Scuderia will introduce this weekend and which has already been tested thanks to the 200 kilometers completed in Fiorano 7 days ago.

Everyone’s expectations are high, perhaps also due to the great results obtained by McLaren 2 weeks ago with the introduction of its new package. Lando Norris managed to win the grand prix thanks to his luck, but it escaped no one’s notice that for large stretches of it he was the fastest driver on the track.

“Imola is a challenging track, it shouldn’t be bad for Ferrari. But I think it’s a very strong track for McLaren. The package we bring here doesn’t change your life. We hope to have more downforce and this certainly pleases everyone pilots”.

“I can’t give an opinion on the new features because we haven’t been able to make comparisons. I don’t have any comparisons to be able to evaluate it. I tried it on a filming day and the car changes a lot. In the end it was important for the sponsors to have images with the new car. To really feel the differences between the basic machine and the new ones you have to try the old one first, then the advanced one. And we haven’t done that job. The only opportunity we have is the simulator, but sometimes the simulator isn’t tells you everything.”

“It will be a very tight race here. Lando won by being lucky, but he was the fastest on the track. I was also trying to overcut and go long. I pushed hard, but Lando always went 2 or 3 tenths faster than me. I thought I was going fast, I was even going faster than Max at that moment there. But he was going faster. This is a McLaren track and we have also seen it in the past years, in 2022, in 2021. All medium-fast corners and that’s where. McLaren gets excited. And Red Bull will also be strong. We have improved a lot in this type of corners and I’m confident.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20,Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20,Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Erik Junius

Finally, Sainz returned to talk about what happened in Miami two weeks ago. To be precise, both of the start, in which the maneuver made by Sergio Perez clearly penalized him, and then of the penalty suffered at the end of the race due to contact between him and Oscar Piastri’s McLaren.

Carlos was not kind to the FIA. He used important words, even with the usual calm and clarity that he uses when he is in front of the microphones. A series of choices, those made by the Miami commissioners, which aroused more than one question in him. And the answers are still missing.

“In Miami I arrived at the first corner second, but I came out fourth due to Perez’s maneuver. And this is also why I sometimes don’t understand what the FIA ​​does. In that situation Perez arrived totally without control. Ok, no he collided with no one and didn’t get a penalty. What he did at the start was much worse than what I did during the race and for which I got a penalty. The Miami race, for me, would have been very different without Perez’s maneuver, but nothing can be done about motorsport anymore.”

“I found out about my penalty 3 hours after the race, and that’s never good. And it’s not good in F1. I was confident I wouldn’t get a penalty when I went to the stewards to talk and explain what happened. They were calm and supportive. agreement with me. That’s why the penalty surprised me. In turn 11 I didn’t send anyone off the track, while the lap before I was thrown out, but no one got a penalty.”

“I have a different theory of the car and the problem of warming up the tires. In my opinion that’s not the point. We simply have a car that performs less well in qualifying than last year. It’s a different compromise from last year. That’s why I say it’s not difficult for me to get the tires up to temperature in qualifying. I simply see that I’m slow in the race and I don’t think it’s a reason for the temperature tires. I really don’t think it comes from that thing.”