Carlos Sainz ended in 6th position in 2023 F1 Japanese GP. Before the race, starting 6th, he set the goal of finishing in the top 5. He did this after a good start in which he avoided a crash against Perezwhich gave him his fifth place by holding the hamilton. However, when his 5th place seemed to be very well on his way, with an advantage of around 8 seconds over Lewis Hamiltonthe strategy of Ferrari it hurt him.
Again, the Ferrari who is behind his partner, is harmed by going the wrong way. The wall should prioritize the car in front and minimize losses to the second. At this moment, Charles came first and had strategic priority. But with Sainz they were wrong more than necessary.
“Maybe we missed the Top-5 at that last stop, maybe we took too long on the outside, and we missed the fight with Hamilton, but the truth is I was very fast the whole race., I made a good start, I had a good degradation, so I’m quite happy with the speed. The bad thing was the result, which didn’t reflect the pace I had and we lost a bit there in the last stop,” commented Carlos Sainz on ‘DAZN F1’, downplaying the strategic failure of the team and giving more importance to good performance. his car’s pace and that this time his car was not diluted in the race, a clear sign of improvement in the car.
But the truth is that by delaying his second stop, Sainz lost a lot of time. By lap 34, Sainz was 5th, 2″1 behind Leclerc, keeping his distance to avoid tire damage. And that Top-5 was gone.
This is what happened at the second stop
Leclerc was the first to make his second stop, on lap 35, to protect his fourth position. Carlos couldn’t stop that moment because he would be wasting time waiting for his partner to change the tire. AND Hamilton, who was more than 3 seconds behind Sainz, stopped at the same moment to attempt to undercut Carlos. For his part, Russell will stay on track with a different approach, a stop.
Sainz was supposed to pit on the next lap, but he didn’t. He stayed on the track for too many laps, losing valuable time to a flying Hamilton on new tires. He stopped 4 laps later than Lewis and Leclerc, on lap 39. He returned to the asphalt in 7th position, behind Hamilton, 8 seconds behind.. total, With that wall decision, Sainz lost nearly 11 seconds to the Englishman.
He achieved a tire advantage at the end of the race, but having a tire 4 laps younger than Hamilton was not a decisive enough weapon to take that risk. Carlos tried it. He got past Russell because George’s tires were so tired, but he couldn’t get past Lewis and he lost the Top-5 within his reach. He has to settle for being 6th
Step forward into destruction
“I feel we are doing better than Mercedes. It’s a pity that they undercut us, before the last stop I was ahead by 4 seconds. I started 8 seconds behind them”then Carlos, leaving the glass half full instead of half empty.
“We were fast throughout the race, good breakdown, after yesterday’s problems today I feel more comfortable in the car, I attack well and save the tire, so overall, happy”finished
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
