Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari
Carlos Sainz is “not very happy” with the performance of his Ferrari after a fifth place finish at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Despite recent upgrades for Ferrari, Sainz struggled throughout the Imola Grand Prix, finishing in fifth position after a fourth place start.
The race saw him battle with Oscar Piastri, ultimately trailing +22.325 seconds behind Max Verstappen.
Speaking about his performance after the race, Sainz said, “Today we were simply lacking quite a lot of pace.
“I’m not very happy because I’m pretty sure after qualifying yesterday, we saw something in the car that might have not been working as expected.”
The Ferrari driver explained further complications with his SF-24’s power unit, which disadvantaged him in the race’s first stint: “We also had some issues with the deployment.
“So today was a bit of damage limitation race for me after what we saw yesterday.“
“All Weekend, We’ve Been Lagging Behind Which is Not Ideal”
Further insights by Sainz reveal that it is not the upgrades presumed to be the issue, something teammate Leclerc warned fans about judging too early heading into the weekend.
He shared, “There’s something on the idle side that we need to look into, as well as the deployment.
“There were some issues during the whole race that was holding me back, especially in the first stint, so something to look at.
“I think it’s more a different thing. But I cannot go into details.”
While Sainz himself faced his challenges, the race itself was packed with action. Verstappen secured another victory with Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc behind in P2 and P3 respectively.
Ferrari’s weekend at Imola did feature some positives. Leclerc’s podium finish proved that the Scuderia have a strong package to work with.
Will they be able to catch up to Red Bull and Mclaren?