Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari’s chances to beat Max Verstappen to the win in Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix have been bolstered with both cars at the front of the grid.
Following a slump in competitiveness in China last time out, Ferrari returned to form at a sweltering Miami International Autodrome as it qualified in second and third.
Despite Max Verstappen being unable to improve on his last run, Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc failed to extract more time to usurp the Red Bull driver for pole.
Sainz, who complained about his set-up in the earlier Sprint sessions, explained that he made positive alterations to the car that helped him to secure third on the grid.
However, the Spaniard conceded there was a tinge of frustration that the peculiar track conditions saw multiple drivers set their fastest times in Q3 on their initial runs.
“I had a better feeling with the car, which allowed me to push limits a bit better,” he said.
“At the same time, same as these guys, you know, it was a bit of a lottery out there. Putting a lap together was extremely difficult.
“You always end up feeling like you could have gone two or three times quicker if you clean it up, but you never actually get to clean it up because the next lap you always do a small mistake here and there and you leave another two-tenths.
“So I think we all are left with the same result, with the same frustrating kind of feeling that it’s extremely difficult to put a lap together.
“Overall I think tight margins, good progress and a good position to start tomorrow.
Leclerc kept Verstappen honest in the Sprint and Sainz thinks having both starting ahead of Sergio Perez’s Red Bull has provided Ferrari the best chance to be a threat.
“I think when Max starts in front it’s always difficult to find ways to beat him,” he admitted.
“Having two cars is our best possible bet in trying to do that and we will give it our best shot.
“Knowing that is obviously if you look at the last statistics it’s going to be extremely difficult, but we’re giving our best shot.”
Among the potential opportunities to disrupt Verstappen will be at lights out, but Sainz reckons that the field has converged when it comes to start-line performance.
“The differences that you could see in the past, I think everyone more or less gets off the line at the same pace and it’s difficult to make the difference there,” he said.
Sainz is also convinced that Pirelli could have gone more aggressive with its tyre selections for the event and expects limited strategic variances during the grand prix.
“I think the tyre compounds are a bit on the conservative side for this grand prix,” he argued.
“I think yeah we could have done maybe with softer compounds and maybe a bit more strategy variability so yeah I don’t expect much differences to last year.”
Sainz’s prospects in the Sprint were hindered when Daniel Ricciardo overtook him on Lap 1 and he rued a straight-line speed deficit stopping him from passing the RB.
Asked whether he had tweaked the set-up to aid his overtaking hopes for the race, Sainz told Motorsport Week: “No, unfortunately, no.
“I think it’s a matter of a trade, you know, that you choose between downforce, power unit settings, etc.
“I think Daniel and Honda this weekend they seem to have a lot of acceleration out of the low-speed corners and this was allowing them to be a very tough car to overtake.
“You could see Checo with the Honda power unit managed to more or less make it stick.
“Obviously they are also a bit more friendly to the Red Bulls than they are to the Ferraris because of obvious reasons. But apart from that, yeah, it was honestly very tricky.
“The only thing missing there was the mistake yesterday in the Sprint quali that made me start behind Daniel in the race.
“And when you put the compromises for setup, you don’t expect to start behind an RB.
“Also tomorrow we’re starting in a more of a normal place and we’ll fight people with similar downforce levels to us and similar top speed levels and this should make it better.”
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