Sainz: “I was very surprised by how they tried to destroy the team”

Carlos Sainz took advantage of the press conference before the Saudi Arabian GP of Formula 1the second appointment of the season, to defend his team from all the criticism received for its high breakdown in Bahrain and how far they started from the winners, red bull. The driver from Madrid acted as leader outside the track to make it clear that there was no “crisis” at Ferrari and that “The environment is better than the rumors say”. Carlos remembers the person who laughs last, laughs best, with a phrase that became clear last year, when Ferrari He started rolling at the start and finished the course very far from red bull. The Spaniard is confident that the Ferrari will improve throughout the course and he doesn’t seem worried.

“It’s just the first race. It’s not how you start, but how you finish”, express.

“The mood at Ferrari? It’s better than what the rumors say. I can tell you that we are clear about what we have to improve. I am very surprised how some people tried to destabilize the team, because some talk about the ‘crisis’ only after a race, when it is impossible to know anything or judge.”qualified.

“We just have to get better. It’s not about pure progress, it’s about what you progress over others. It’s not enough to beat Mercedes or Red Bull, but we’re doing everything possible to do that”, added Sainz, sure of the work the Maranello factory is doing to reduce the difference where they started against Milton. Keynes.

“I have been at Ferrari for 3 years and the progress I have seen is enormous. Now the start of 2023 has been difficult. We are putting everything in motion to improve. We have a clear development goal. The car responds like in the wind tunnel, so we know where the car is weak and we know where to work.”

In Jeddah, for everyone

“Bahrain was a difficult weekend for the team. Leclerc’s penalty was not perfect. But it is only the first races. We will try to improve the car and build on that.”he pointed out in a press conference, confident in the step that Ferrari must take this weekend.

“The track is different in Bahrain. The tarmac, the wind level, the high-speed nature of the track. I think we will be more competitive, not at Red Bull level. I think we will get to the podium.”commented Carlos, who this weekend will be the one to tow the Ferrari car due to the penalty of 10 places on the grid that Leclerc received for the installation of his third electronic control unit.

Although the DAZN F1 cameras were new, he did not deny anything and went one step further: “As of today (Thursday), of course I want pole position and win the race. That’s the goal. On Saturday (in qualifying) let’s see where we go”.

Ferrari has clarified in recent days that the Bahrain performance was not representative and only showed a picture of Ferrari’s performance in specific conditions, with many degradations like in Bahrain. Two weeks later, with a new front wing to reduce understeer and on a unique track like Jeddah, where the front end is more important and has less degradation, full of straight and fast corners where the Ferrari could take advantage of its powerful engine, Sainz set the goal of being on the podium, and perhaps trying to catch others.

“Reliability is a reasonable concern, breaking two control units is not ideal. It was a surprise. We have put things in place to solve it in the short term,” he said in relation to the reliability of the element that failed in Leclerc’s car in up to two times in Bahrain.