Sainz adapting to magnitude of Ferrari mistakes

Sam Hall
Thursday 1 September 2022 18:58

Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari's stature in F1 means that mistakes are magnified compared to its rivals.

The Scuderia's season has been defined by a number of tactical errors, with team principal Mattia Binotto forced to defend those dictating its race plan on a number of occasions.

Despite conceding that mistakes have been made, Sainz has suggested that similar misjudgements at his previous teams would have gone unnoticed.

"I find that a bit tougher in Ferrari," said Sainz. "I feel like when I was in McLaren, Toro Rosso or Renault, when there was a big mistake on strategy, no one would come and point it out and criticise you or put you down as much as they do with Ferrari.

"This is a fact that I think everyone can agree with.

"In Ferrari, everything seems bigger - the victories are bigger, the mistakes are bigger and it is just like that.

"It is something that I am adapting myself to and it is something that I need to learn, how to react better in situations."

Ferrari inconsistent with strategy errors

Across the course of the season, Ferrari has made crucial errors in Monaco, Silverstone and Hungary that have all cost Charles Leclerc likely victories.

But the quest to overcome the issues has been made more difficult by the fact mistakes have come from being too brave and too cautious on occasion.

"It is very difficult to generalise where we should have been braver or more cautious," continued Sainz.

"You would need to pick [decisions] one by one and analyse them independently and I am pretty sure that one by one, every conclusion would be different.

"Maybe we could have been a bit gutsier, maybe we could have played it a bit more safe.

"For me, it is all about continuous improvement and continuously finding ways to make the right calls at the right time.

"There have been a lot of times through the year where we have made the right calls and no one has come to us to say 'You did the right call' or to congratulate us for that.

"But on the other hand, when there have been two or three bad calls with hindsight, there has been massive criticism about it."