Carlos Sainz has urged caution surrounding the chances of Ferrari replicating its competitiveness in Australia until it brings seismic upgrades to its 2024 Formula 1 car.
Ferrari had emerged as Red Bull’s closest contender in the first two rounds with its revamped SF-24 challenger, with Sainz and Charles Leclerc taking a third place apiece.
The Italian marque carried that nascent momentum into the weekend at the Albert Park Circuit to provide a serious challenge to the reigning champion’s RB20 machine.
Although Max Verstappen seized pole position, the Dutchman retired in the opening stages with a brake problem, enabling Sainz to lead a Ferrari 1-2 finish in Melbourne.
But while Sainz accepts Ferrari has solved its race pace woes from last term, the Spaniard admits further wins could be out of reach until sizeable developments arrive.
“Our car worked really well this weekend,” he said. “But it’s going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah.
“But around Australia, from lap one, it felt like a race-winning car. And even if Red Bull were also quick and were on pole, that [time] in quali wasn’t out of reach for us.
“There will be tracks where we are strong like we saw last year. And this year it seems like our race pace is better even on those tracks that we are stronger.
“And together with a good development programme, I hope that we can challenge Red Bull more often.”
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez had touted that the Austrian outfit would have been powerless to stop Ferrari even with Verstappen’s presence in a functioning car in the race.
Sainz believes that Ferrari’s pacesetting times in practice and Red Bull’s comparative struggles on the race runs suggest that he could have fought for the win regardless.
“I felt like I could keep up with him on the first lap and try and take DRS, just to make sure that… DRS around here is super powerful,” he assessed.
“Then he lost the car into Turn 3 [on the second lap] and there was my chance to get close and attempt an overtake.
“And then as soon as he was behind, I think he started struggling with the brakes and that was it for him.
“A pity because we would have had, I think, a very good fight for P1 today. But, you know, I’m happy to take the win. He’s had plenty of them.”
Ferrari is set to introduce its first sizeable upgrade package when the European season commences at Imola, but rumours have stated it could accelerate those plans.
Speculation within the Italian media has indicated that the Maranello-based squad will bring some parts in advance to next weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka.
