Carlos Sainz admits that there are elements of the 2022 Ferrari Formula 1 car that are “surprising” him negatively.
Sainz’s running on Friday in Miami ended early after he spun and made contact with a barrier, sustaining damage to his car.
It marks the third weekend in a row that Sainz has crashed, following incidents in Australia and Imola last month.
Having endured a difficult start to the 2022 campaign, the Spaniard has backed himself to return to form amid his current slump.
![Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri [McLaren] celebrate their 1-2 finish at the 2025 F1 Austrian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Lando-Norris-Oscar-Piastri-McLaren-F1-2025-1-120x86.webp)
“I am the first one that is not happy with the last two crashes,” Sainz said. “And I am the first one that is analysing it and trying to take conclusions from it.
“I remember going through a very similar scenario last year where I crashed a couple of times and right after them came my best run of races in Formula 1.
“So I know how to come out of it. I think I’m still learning a lot of this car.
“This car is still surprising me, I’m not going to lie, it’s still things that are, let’s say, a bit out of my control that are surprising me.
“As soon as I get on top of them and learn them, I think as you saw today, I can be quick in any given lap.”
Ferrari appeared to once again possess strong pace during Friday practice, with Sainz’s team-mate Charles Leclerc heading the opening practice session.
“The pace is still there, I’m pretty fast out there,” Sainz asserted.
“Just obviously disappointed because it’s not the way you want to start a weekend, by giving the mechanics extra [work].
“I hit the barrier probably in the worst possible place; there was no Tecpro there, I hit straight into a concrete wall which, even at the speed I was going, felt quite harsh, so the car has damage.
“I’ve given everyone a bit of a rough Friday night, which is not ideal.”
![Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri [McLaren] celebrate their 1-2 finish at the 2025 F1 Austrian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Lando-Norris-Oscar-Piastri-McLaren-F1-2025-1-350x250.webp)
![Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri [McLaren] celebrate their 1-2 finish at the 2025 F1 Austrian GP](https://www.motorsportweek.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/Lando-Norris-Oscar-Piastri-McLaren-F1-2025-1-360x180.webp)
Sainz needs to go. I really like him and wanted him to succeed, but like Ricciardo he has turned into a dud. Replacing him with Alonso would be interesting, although I kind of think Alonso might be better off sticking with Alpine. Seems like whenever he goes to a team who is on the verge of improving, he ends up in an (at best) second place car. He probably should have never left Renault in 2006, which if were the case I think F1 history would be very different. Regardless, Alonso is clearly still the best on the grid by a country mile.
… painfully evident, they’re not particularly fast learners in F1. They’re not particularly smart. Kind of stupid, every one of these F1 engineers would have washed out from America’s Mercury Project, circa 1958.
Mechanical Engineering 101-a for idiots: beyond the realm of human axiom, an 18″ diameter wheel cannot be effectively controlled, by an 9″ steering wheel.
F1’s been sufficiently dumbed down, to be popular. Propping SUV wheels on F1 vehicles, that really did the trick! They’re really popular, now!
The idiots running F1! If they wanted SUV wheels in F1? Fine. But, put the 18″ wheels, on the rears, not the fronts.
Those 20″ wheels the Porsche people put to their 2005 Carrera GT, that’s what killed actor Paul Walker. Wheel diameter do behemoth, Ayrton Senna himself couldn’t correct a Carrera GT. Much less, Roger Rodas.
Given a clean sheet of paper, no engineer worth his salts would spec an 18″ wheel, not even for an SUV.