So far, Carlos Sainz hasn’t been able to get as much out of the new ground effect F1-75 as his team-mate, Charles Leclerc, with another frustrating Sunday at the Spanish Grand Prix last week in which he spun again .
After a series of incidents in Australia , Imola and Miami, the Spanish driver is aware that the situation must change as soon as possible to achieve better results.
The key to achieving this is to better control how Ferrari’s current car behaves, as he admits that he is not entirely comfortable with the behavior, especially of the front end.
Asked about the specific characteristics of the car that were giving him problems, Sainz explained that the situation was very complicated and that it was a question he could not answer.
“It’s very specific,” he said. “It’s a lot of details. It’s probably too much to say in an interview, or to put into words, because I think he deserves some privacy as well and [there’s] some confidential team stuff.”
“I think you can see through the cameras, that I’m still not [attached] to the car compared to last year and naturally I’m not bragging that the car is too complicated for my taste.
“But that’s the way it is: either you adapt, or you can steer the car into a position more to your liking.”
“These two things take time and take knowledge and experience. It takes mistakes, it takes trial and error. And this is what I’m doing now.”
Sainz explained that his performances have also had a worse image than they should due to the way his teammate, Leclerc , has managed to be so attuned to the car, regularly fighting for victories.
“He is driving at a very high level,” he explained. “He’s doing some impressive lap times, with a very aggressive way of driving.”
“I can only admire it and try to copy some aspects of it, and in others try to make it a little more to my liking to be faster. And that’s it. Sometimes it is like that and as a driver you just have to go through a process and challenge yourself to yourself”.
Although he accepts that things are not ideal at the moment, Sainz said he has faith that things will get better.
“I remain positive and motivated to turn things around as soon as possible,” he said. “It has not been easy”.
“You can probably see from the onboards and the mistakes that I’m struggling a lot to drive this car and understand how to get the most out of it. It’s a new challenge in my F1 career.”
“I have to think differently, drive differently. And because of this comes the mistakes, as well as the learning that I’m doing.”
“Right now I’m just putting my head down to fight this and turn the situation around as soon as possible. It’s been a combination of bad luck and mistakes on my part, which also counts, right?”
“But I think in the future it’s going to take a sudden turn, or it’s going to change little by little, so I just have to keep my head down,” concluded the Ferrari driver from Madrid.
