Sainz names the F1 track where he expects Ferrari to IMPROVE

Dutch Grand Prix

Sainz names the F1 track where he expects Ferrari to IMPROVE

Spaniard keen to get to low downforce tracks as Scuderia continues to struggle

Lauren Sneath

Monday 28 August 2023 19:57

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Carlos Sainz has said that he is expecting better results for Ferrari at Monza and suggested that while the team understands the issues with its car, they are difficult to correct now the car is fully developed.

The Spanish driver made the admission after a difficult race at Zandvoort, where he managed fifth place after ‘fighting’ through the entire race.

The result puts him at fifth place in the drivers’ championship on 102 points, three points ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc, while Ferrari are currently fourth in the constructors’ championship behind Aston Martin, Mercedes and Red Bull.

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Their season has been plagued by strategic errors and car issues. What's more, Leclerc was forced to retire from the recent Dutch Grand Prix with floor damage.

Sainz, meanwhile, said he was ‘happy with the result’ at Zandvoort but was keen to look to the future, explaining that lower downforce tracks suit the car better.

After the race, he told Sky Sports F1: “I think today we were the whole race fighting with cars that were a lot quicker than us all weekend. It was just a whole race of fighting through, getting the calls right and happy to finish in P5, when I think this weekend, our pace was nowhere near that. Means we executed the race well.

“We did everything well today and happy with the result. Obviously not happy with how much I struggled and how difficult it was out there for us.”

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Sainz also explained the difficult line teams must walk in developing the car, even when they understand the problems that need correcting.

He said: “Don’t get me wrong, we start to understand what is it [the underlying car problems]. There’s very little margin to correct it now that the car is built and the car is pretty much done and developed.

“We know we need to change things for next year, but for this year, circuits like Zandvoort and windy conditions and high downforce tracks we were just simply going to be slow.

“On the other hand, Monza I expect better things because in Spa we were a lot quicker than here. I think honestly, low downforce tracks we should be better.

“We should be back to our normal position, it’s just that this weekend, we were nowhere, but we still finished P5, and we did the maximum with the car we had which is something to be proud of.”