Ferrari grapples with brake issues and lagging performance, impacting Sainz and Leclerc in the latest F1 Sprint.
Carlos Sainz overtook George Russell at the start but had to yield to the Briton to finish fifth, not without brake issues. He had made a good start by overtaking the Mercedes.
“It was a very good start, then we had brake issues with the lift and coast,” said the Spanish driver, explaining that his brake problems ruined his competitiveness against his rivals.
“Managing the brakes, we lost the DRS from the McLarens, then Russell overtook me. I tried to stay behind him, but the Mercedes were faster than us. I managed to keep Lewis behind but just barely. I hope we can improve the car for the qualifiers.”
Charles Leclerc started tenth for the F1 Sprint in Austria, gaining three places in the first lap. Unfortunately, it got more complicated with brake issues for him as well, and the Ferrari driver did not hide his concern about the pace of the SF-24 compared to its rivals.
“The first lap was positive, we gained quite a few positions. Unfortunately, after that it was more complicated. We had to manage the brake temperature being at the back of the pack. But the real problem this weekend, like the last, is performance,” the Monegasque lamented.
“We’re struggling at the moment. We know we have to work; that’s what we want to do, but we’re struggling to find performance. When you see the performances of McLaren and Max, there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Leclerc admits he is currently helpless against his lack of performance but is ready to take risks to improve things: “Right now, there’s no miracle solution, but we’re definitely going to try something for the qualifiers.”
“At least from my side. I prefer to try something rather than finish fifth or sixth. At worst it won’t work, but we shouldn’t do worse than seventh or eighth, but we have to try something to catch up.”
Ferrari must mitigate damages while understanding its developments.
Marc Gene, test driver and Ferrari ambassador, acknowledges that the Italian team is currently not in contention to win Grand Prix races.
Charles Leclerc won in Monaco from pole, but recent car developments have struggled on subsequent tracks in Canada, Barcelona, and now Austria.
Leclerc could not even complete his last lap in sprint qualifying, leaving him 10th on the grid for Saturday’s short race, which he finished in 7th place nonetheless.
“They were all driving so slowly yesterday that the anti-stall kicked in,” confirmed Gene, a former F1 driver.
“The engineers have studied everything and there was no specific issue. Certainly, these procedures must be reviewed or such situations avoided.”
But Carlos Sainz, in fifth place yesterday, was half a second off Max Verstappen’s pole time for the Sprint. Not reassuring before today’s qualifiers…
“The potential is there,” insists Gene, “but we need to optimize the package and really make it work well.”
“We see improvements, but we haven’t managed to make them consistent across all laps and all types of corners.”
“And as these races come one after another, we don’t have time to work on this package, which has potential that we haven’t yet seen on track.”
When asked if a surprise victory was still on the cards, Gene concluded: “It’s more a time to score as many points as possible, because fighting for victories like in Monaco is currently beyond our car’s reach.”
Sainz, Leclerc Struggle in F1 Sprint with Ferrari. Sainz, Leclerc Struggle in F1 Sprint with Ferrari
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