Carlos Sainz says that Ferrari’s winning form in Austin indicates that the SF-24 will be competitive at all the remaining Formula 1 races of this season – with the possible exception of Qatar.
After a run of venues that were expected to favour the car in Monza, Baku and Singapore the team’s potential at a more “normal” track like Austin was unclear ahead of the weekend.
However having qualified third and fourth the cars showed superior race pace to McLaren and Red Bull, allowing Charles Leclerc to head Sainz home in an impressive one-two finish.
The car lost out in the fast sweeps early in the lap, but made the time back in the slower stuff later on.
“I think when you look into the detail of the Austin track as long as we survived the first sector, which in qualifying, we were two-tenths of the Red Bull and the McLaren only in three or four corners, then all of the other corners were perfect for Ferrari,” said Sainz.
“And we managed to make the time back in all the low-speed stuff. We’re still lacking in high-speed corners, especially in qualifying mode, which makes me feel like Qatar will be still a difficult race for us, but all the other circuits just hopefully be on the mix.
“Then whether you win or not, it depends how’s your race pace that weekend? How is the start? How do you qualify? But at least be in the mix, which means you give yourself a chance at winning at almost every track. Except for maybe Qatar, that I think is not a Ferrari track at all.”
Sainz is optimistic about the team’s chances for the remainder of the season: “I’m hopeful. I’m more hopeful after Austin that we can keep up with this.
“At the same time, qualifying remains a bit of on Achilles heel this year, because the moment you qualify P3/P4, in a track like Mexico maybe here with a long straight you can pass in into Turn 1 at the start, but in a lot of the other tracks, you will not be able to do the kind of race that we did in Austin.”
Sainz believes that the team is in the fight for victory in Mexico this weekend.
“I hope that we can be in the mix like we were in Austin,” he said. “I think if we are in the mix, given our race pace this year and what can happen here at the start, even if you’re not on pole, you might have a chance at winning.
“Before Austin, I doubted whether we could be in the mix in tracks like Austin. The fact that we dominated there, and we were so strong, gives me hope that we can be in the mix, and as long as we are in the mix, anyone can win.”
Sainz also made an interesting revelation about the fuel issue he reported on the radio during the US GP.
“I cannot go in a lot of detail,” he said. “What I can tell you is that it obviously made me lose performance for a couple of laps, and with that, the possibility to overtake Max when I was in his DRS.
“And then it also meant that I obviously had to compensate towards the end of the race by having to save a lot of fuel. But happily, nothing happened. I actually think we were quite lucky with the fact that I could finish the race.
“But yeah, let’s say it obviously compromised quite a lot my my race. And a bit of a shame, because I felt like it was very quick that weekend, but also feeling lucky that I could finish the race in P2.”
