Carlos Sainz Jr, from Spain, driving for Ferrari SF-24, participated in the Formula 1 World Championship, Stage 4, the Japanese Grand Prix, held in Suzuka, Japan, on June 4, 2024, during Qualifying Day.
Sainz dismissed Ferrari’s inability to keep up with Red Bull’s pace during the single lap qualifying session of the Japanese Grand Prix as a setback. The team had predicted to be behind the reigning champions in terms of performance. Despite Ferrari’s one-two finish in the previous race in Melbourne, expectations were not met as Sainz finished in fourth place, behind the two Red Bull drivers and McLaren’s leader, Lando Norris. Sainz’s teammate, Charles Leclerc, struggled and finished in eighth place.
Sainz acknowledges that he extracted the maximum potential from Ferrari’s SF-24 car during his qualifying lap, resulting in a deficit of 0.485 seconds compared to Max Verstappen’s pole position time. He remains hopeful for a closer battle in the race, aiming for a qualifying time around 1 minute and 28.6 seconds.
The Spanish driver emphasizes that Ferrari predicted their main rivals, Red Bull and McLaren, would have an advantage in Suzuka’s high-speed corners. Comparing his performance to the previous year, Sainz notes a slight improvement but recognizes that Suzuka may not be favorable for Ferrari in terms of pure performance. He believes Red Bull and McLaren have an edge in long, high-speed corners. However, Sainz remains optimistic about fighting for a podium position in the race, although a win seems unlikely. He hopes Ferrari and McLaren can close the gap and compete closely during the race.
Sainz revealed that his skepticism regarding Ferrari’s chances was based on the understanding that their updated car couldn’t close the one-second gap they had in Japan last year.
“That’s why yesterday I was trying to moderate everyone’s expectations, because we knew we were one second behind last year and we didn’t make a one-second improvement from last year to this year on a challenging track like Suzuka, so it would always be difficult,” he explained.
“However, I am very pleased with the feel of the car. It seems like a step forward on tracks like this, and today I managed to put in some clean laps to position myself for the fight tomorrow.”
The Ferrari driver also dismissed the idea that the team had been brought back to reality after Red Bull’s dominance on the front row.
“I believe that when we go to tracks like Monza, Singapore, or Miami, we will be in the fight for victories,” he added. “But on other tracks, the Red Bull car is simply superior.”
“As I mentioned in the press conference, we knew this car would face more challenges on this type of track this weekend. However, we remain focused and will do everything we can.”
During practice, Ferrari seemed stronger in terms of single-lap performance, leading Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko to suggest they could pose a threat.
However, despite Verstappen also expressing dissatisfaction with his race simulations, Sainz pointed out that the Austrian team tends to hold back a bit on pace.
“They are not better than Red Bull, it just looks that way,” Sainz commented on the Ferrari vs Red Bull long-run comparison.
“They always run very slow on Fridays, so it seems like we will beat them on Sunday, but we end up 20 seconds behind.”
“They are always incredibly fast on Sundays, and I believe they intentionally hold back during long-duration simulations because they know it is their strength.”
“We may be a little closer, but we should not expect to find half a second tomorrow.”
© 2024
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