F1 | Sainz: “We understand the SF24, we are ready for Bahrain”

The 2024 season is upon us and Wednesday in Bahrain was the first day of the championship dedicated to meetings with the press. As at every start of the world championship, the teams arrive at Sakhir with a ranking order yet to be discovered, but at Ferrari they are looking at the first race with greater optimism.

Compared to twelve months ago, the Cavallino team presents itself with some certainties and several fewer doubts, demonstrating three days of testing which has given encouraging indications not only on the potential of the new single-seater, but above all on its characteristics.

Right from the start, both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc spoke of a SF-24 that was more drivable and less sensitive to the wind, aspects on which Ferrari has worked hard in recent months to put a less unpredictable car in the hands of drivers, one of the great limitations for 2023. With the exception of Red Bull, Ferrari is also the team that has carried out the most complete test program among the high-end teams, with runs both with little fuel on board and over long distances, so much so that it completed two simulations competition.

Precisely this element, as well as the sensations felt with the new car in the three days of testing, led Carlos Sainz to speak with cautious optimism. “It's the longest season in history, this is the first race, we're preparing and it seems like yesterday that we filmed in Abu Dhabi for the last race of the season [2023]. The winters are getting shorter and shorter, the tests are getting shorter and it seems like we are already racing through the whole season,” explained the Spaniard, also referring to the fact that the rest period is now getting shorter.

“We didn't lose the pace, we did some good tests and for this reason I say that we understood the car and we managed to try everything we wanted, we feel ready for this first race”, added the Cavallino driver, underlining how the Red team feels ready for the first round of the season after the encouraging signs found in the tests. A situation that is the opposite of last year, when Ferrari went into the first race of the year with doubts to which it had not yet found an answer.

Although the Maranello Scuderia arrives in Bahrain with greater confidence, on the other hand there is the awareness that the great favorites to win the title and stage victories are Red Bull and Max Verstappen. The hope is to be able to annoy the Dutchman more consistently, winning more trophies over the course of the season: “I think [Verstappen] will continue to win trophies, and I hope to pick up a couple more than last year, that's the goal.”

Sainz hopes to complete what will be his last year with the red suit with a little more satisfaction, given that from next year Lewis Hamilton will land in Italy, who will arrive with seven world titles under his belt. The Madrid native still doesn't know what his future will be, but the goal is to find a long-term project that allows him to fight to win: it is therefore not just a competitive issue, but also a temporal one, because Sainz he has always underlined his preference for a project that guarantees contractual stability.

Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-AMG

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“I don't know where I'm going yet and I don't know what my best option is. What I know is that I intend to make the most of my last year with Ferrari, giving everything for Maranello. My situation has changed a lot since the winter, I will talk to all the available options and see what is the best long-term project that can allow me to become world champion.”

A final reflection went to a 2024 season which will be long and demanding, with 24 races in total, to which the six sprints must be added. A number that many professionals, as well as many drivers, have already defined as excessive, in addition to the limit, also because it takes away some of the charm of the championship. This is an aspect also highlighted by Sainz himself, who indicated that an overly packed calendar could lead to a loss of interest in the world championship.

“If we reached 30 [GP], I think that would be too much. I think we are already at the limit of the races that the drivers and mechanics can face. We're at the limit of endurance with a family at home, and we're at the limit of excessive, I think we won't be able to go beyond 24, and in terms of driving. I love the Champions League because it is in stages, it highlights more, while F1 is risking being too constant and with this also comes the risk of losing the desire to follow it. It must be a sport to follow, you don't have to get used to it being a day like any other,” added the Spaniard.