Carlos Sainz has revealed how Ferrari lifted itself from a mid-season slump with a Formula 1 car he felt was “undriveable.”
Ferrari looked to be a potent threat to early-season pacesetters Red Bull, with Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc winning in Melbourne and Monaco respectively.
However, upgrades issued in Spain put Ferarri in a world of pain and it spent much of the summer months enduring a development struggle.
But with upgrades in Monza and a flexible front wing added to the SF-24 in Singapore, Ferrari turned its fortunes around with victories in the Italian, United States and Mexico City Grands Prix.
Sainz explained that his “personal feeling” behind Ferrari’s improvement can be attributed to “a very small step in terms of downforce but it’s just been maybe a bigger step in terms of useable downforce and especially the way you can run the car with stiffnesses etc.
“[I’m] just happy the car doesn’t bounce as much and it’s into a decent window because that’s how a Formula 1 car should behave and perform.
“What we had in mid-season was in a way not acceptable and undriveable.
“The moment we created that, I’m happy it stayed because it’s how an F1 car should behave and be, I’m happy it’s proving itself that way because it’s giving ourselves a much better platform to work with and it’s just a more useable car.”
Ferrari recovery ‘shows great team strength’ according to Carlos Sainz
Thanks to Leclerc winning in Italy and Austin, Texas and Sainz backing that up with a supremely confident triumph in Mexico City, Ferrari has brought itself back into contention for the F1 Constructors’ title.
The Scuderia is currently second, with 557 points, 36 behind leaders McLaren on 593 points.
That tally is a testament to Ferrari’s drivers making the best of a bad situation during the summer months but with Leclerc only 86 points off of Drivers’ Championship leader Max Verstappen, a stronger development path could have yielded a double-title challenge.
Still, Sainz acknowledged that Ferrari went through “a tough period” mid-season and credits the team for turning things around before the end of the campaign.
“I think every team this year has gone through a tough period with development, maybe only McLaren is the only one where everything they’ve put on the car has worked,” the Spaniard said.
“But every other team on the grid I think has gone through some struggles and it’s the same for us.
“I was quite vocal and critical about those struggles and the things I didn’t like about that package. But at the same time I’m the first one to praise the team’s recovery process from then onwards.
“The way we accepted it and recovered from it shows a great team strength and I think, in that sense, we’ve recovered really well and put ourselves back in a good position.”
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