Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has issued an ominous warning to the Formula 1 grid, claiming that Red Bull’s tyre degradation on Softs tyres is unmatched compared to its rivals.
Sainz finished the Bahrain Grand Prix 25 seconds behind Max Verstappen but was able to cling onto the sister Red Bull’s coattails, finishing just over two seconds shy of Sergio Perez.
The Spaniard said he was “relieved” Ferrari had delivered a car he could attack with but warned that it was not in a position to trouble Red Bull’s recent domination of the sport.
Both Red Bull drivers were fitted with the Soft compound for the final stint of the Bahrain Grand Prix, whereas most drivers took to the Hard tyre for the closing stanza.
Ferrari had hoped that Red Bull would be hamstrung by tyre degradation in the latter stages of the final stint, allowing Sainz to pressurise Perez on the more durable rubber.
However, Sainz was forced to concede that such an opportunity was not to come having observed little fall-off in the pace of the Red Bulls as the stint progressed
“You need to consider that we’ve been testing here [Bahrain] for three days and I’ve been seeing the Red Bull’s degradation on Soft and it’s exactly the same as ours on the Hard,” Sainz warned during the post-race press conference.
“So as soon as I knew Red Bull had a new Soft for the last stint and Checo had it, it’s not like I went, okay, this is my chance.
“I’ve seen the long runs they did on this C3 tyre, Soft tyre in testing, and you could see that they basically have the same deg on the Soft than what everyone has on the Hard. So I wasn’t getting too excited.”
Unlike Verstappen, Perez was unable to canter away from Sainz’s chasing Ferrari. However, the third-place finisher spoke of difficulty getting any closer than the ultimate two-and-a-half-second buffer due to the consequences of dirty air.
“I was in a bit of an uncomfortable position because you’re there in the two, three-second margin, which is where you get all the dirty air, but you don’t get the advantage of the DRS and the slipstream,” he explained.
“So you’re just sliding a bit more. If I had been within a second or maybe five seconds behind, I think on the Hard tyre, I could have maybe shown a bit more of the true pace of the car and my pace today. But in that two, three seconds, [it’s] the worst place to be and I could never mount any proper challenge on Checo today.”
Despite being unable to challenge the imperious RB20 in the final stages of the Bahrain Grand Prix, Sainz remained optimistic that Ferrari could challenge for race wins in 2024.
“I knew they had a three or four-tenth advantage, maybe not half a second like George was saying, depending on track conditions,” said Sainz of Red Bull’s evident post-Bahrain test advantage. “
“But I knew it was going to be very difficult to beat the Red Bulls. They also kept a new Soft, which shows a bit what the intentions and their plans were.
“So I knew the Red Bulls today were going to be very, very difficult to beat. So to keep up with one of them and have the possibility to fight is already a good surprise.
“I think we’re one of one of their strongest tracks of the season with very high tyre deg at the rear.
“Hopefully, when we go to a more front-limited track and maybe better tarmac, our car will come alive and we will be able to mount a better challenge on Max for the win.”
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