Carlos Sainz was enthused that Ferrari’s Formula 1 latest upgrades put it in a “genuine” race with McLaren at the Italian Grand Prix as team-mate Charles Leclerc won.
The Spaniard, who finished fourth behind Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, rued his prospects coming undone when he lost a tow on the McLaren cars when they pitted.
However, Sainz spoke of his encouragement at how his team’s cars were able to keep a race pace that enabled his team-mate Leclerc’s victory.
“Today we were in a genuine race with the McLarens,” he said, adding: “I think obviously here the tow makes a bit of a difference and I think I lost the tow around Lap 15 when they boxed and I could really feel how slow you become without it.
“Then they form a train of three cars and I was in the middle of nowhere with Lewis in my tow following my pace but I genuinely think today we were in the race with the McLarens which was great to see.
“At the same time it’s Monza and a very particular Monza, we’ll need to wait to see more normal tracks to see if this upgrade has really turned our season around and we’re going to fight for wins from now on or we’re going to go back to what we saw in Zandvoort.”
Sainz acknowledged that the success of the upgrades to the floor of the car can only be determined in future races, saying that he was “not sure” if Monza was a clear indication, adding: “We need more samples on this new floor and we need to go to more normal tracks, I guess the next normal one is Austin because the ones coming up are very particular [Baku and Singapore].
“Austin is more back to a more normal race track and that will tell us how good we are with this new floor.”
In the race, Sainz was left to play a supporting role whilst Leclerc was able to adapt to the change in strategy, utilising his one-stop brilliantly to snatch victory away from the McLarens, who locked out the front row.
Sainz was unable to make such gains, but was nonetheless magnanimous and pleased with the outcome of the race as a whole, from a team perspective, and in the knowledge it is his final Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver.
“It’s been an incredible weekend for me,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot, it’s a shame not to be on the podium today, at the same time I feel like today was a bit of a coin toss, whether to stay out or not, get it right.
“Charles and I live together with the team, with me, if we wanted to be in that fight we probably would have needed to stay in the train with the cars ahead after the first pit stop and we just lost the chance of a podium there, but honestly very happy to see the team winning here this weekend, I wish I was up there with the podium with Charles, but I think he deserves the win more than anyone today, so congrats.”
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