After a tricky first part of the weekend by Carlos Sainz, with difficulties in the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint Race, the Spaniard recovered in the second part with good performances in Qualifying and the Race. His battle with Oscar Piastri cost the winner of the Australian GP a 5-second penalty at the end of the race, taking away his fourth position.
Sainz was happy with his speed. With that said, some unfortunate situations prevented him from getting on the podium, and perhaps something more. First of all, Sergio Perez’s careless attempt to overtake both Ferraris in turn one made losing two positions to Carlos.
The ‘timing’ of the Safety Car was unfortunate given the pit stop made just one lap earlier at the same time as Oscar Piastri and the battle with the Australian, which lost a lot of time and ultimately one position at the end of the race due to the five-second penalty.
There was no shortage of compliments to his friend Lando Norris. The 23-year-old’s progress has been noted frequently in recent years. When asked about the updates expected at Imola, Sainz kept a low profile to manage expectations about the heavily discussed Imola upgrades.
SAINZ QUOTES VETTEL: “PEREZ ENTERED LIKE A TORPEDO”, BUT THE STEP AFTER THE BATTLES WAS POSITIVE
From the very first metres, the Miami GP was very chaotic for the Ferrari driver. He immediately managed to get ahead of his teammate with a good start. Still, it was an attempt over the limit by Sergio Perez in turn one. Fortunately, it came without consequences in terms of damage- although it made Carlos lose two positions:
“At the start we would have been P2 very close to Max. But Checo arrived like a rocket, or a torpedo as they used to say, and almost took us out, which cost me positions at the start.”
The first stages of the race were spent behind Oscar Piastri and then Charles Leclerc. Still, the Spaniard lost the DRS train from the duo in front. At that point, he started saving the tyres to lengthen the stint:
“Then I saved the tyres for extension, and while we were doing so, we stopped one lap before the Safety Car.” According to the Spaniard, a second victory of 2024 was possible with slightly kinder Safety Car timing:
“For one lap, we didn’t have the Safety Car, which could have given us a victory. After that, I felt very strong with the Hard, but as we saw yesterday, it is difficult to overtake with our car.”
In the last fifteen laps, the pace compared to Lando Norris showed a very small gap between the performance of the SF-24 and that of the updated MCL38. This weekend, though, Sainz was unable to capitalise.
“I kept going to the end, and I proved I’m fast today. But these are details that didn’t go in our direction.”
The battle with Oscar Piastri marked the outcome of the number 55’s race. It caused him to lose time compared to Leclerc and Verstappen, eventually costing him a post-race penalty:
“I felt frustrated with Oscar because he pushed me off the track, and it wasted time with Charles and Max in front. Then I saw that the stewards weren’t aggressive with the penalties. And I was aggressive too, and risked something.”
The fight on the track perhaps went beyond the limit a few times. Ultimately, only the Spaniard suffered a penalty from the stewards:
“The battle with Oscar was tough, a bit too much, in my opinion. With the entry he made by pushing me off the track, and then I saw that the stewards weren’t very tough on everyone today, and I said – ‘I have to be aggressive if I want to pass Oscar’.
Furthermore, after the battle with the McLaren driver, Carlos complained about possible damage to his Ferrari. The pit wall, however, saw no damage from their side:
“I don’t know how much damage I had. But in the end, I was very fast, with the same pace as Lando, so I don’t think it was too much.”
Then the questions moved towards the next appointment. The next round is at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. Ferrari will debut their upgraded SF-24 for the first time in Imola. Sainz immediately said he was eager to see the updates.
The step forward made by McLaren this weekend has closed a large part of the gap between the MCL38 and the RB20, giving Lando Norris a victory on a track that is not very favourable to the characteristics of the Woking car. Still, the Spaniard wanted to keep a very low profile speaking about the new parts:
“Will we make progress like McLaren? Let’s hope so. It’s an update that should help us, but not something huge. But with these new rules we take small steps. I don’t know how much it will be, but we’ll see in Imola.”
Ferrari’s relative pace to Verstappen was much-needed after the pill swallowed in Shanghai. Still, from Imola, the McLaren variable will also have to be taken into consideration.
