Carlos Sainz has admitted that Ferrari would have had a better shot at winning the 2024 Formula 1 title had the team “done our homework earlier” on its weaknesses.
Ferrari’s double podium at the last race in Abu Dhabi wasn’t enough to end its title drought as Lando Norris’ win secured the Constructors’ Championship for McLaren.
The Italian marque went into the season finale with an uphill task to close down McLaren’s lead, but it received a boost when Oscar Piastri was spun around at Turn 1.
With Charles Leclerc having charged through to third place, Sainz overtaking polesitter Norris would have provided the points swing Ferrari required to usurp McLaren.
Norris controlled the gap to his ex-team-mate throughout the race, though, to ensure McLaren prevailed with a 14-point advantage over Ferrari at the end of 24 rounds.
“On my side, I tried to do everything I could to keep within reach of McLaren,” Sainz told media including Motorsport Week.
“Before the race we knew that McLaren might have one or two tenths of pace on us and that was enough, you know,
to pull a bit of a gap before the pit stops or during the race to have a bit of a buffer and not to feel too much pressure.
“I think I had a very strong first stint, managed to keep them within reach and within pressure margins, especially when I was told Charles was coming in a good comeback.
“Oscar had obviously that incident in lap one, I thought, we might have a bit of a chance, but then little by little it started to fade.
“When we put on the Hard tyres, like we’ve seen in many cases this year, the McLaren upped the pace a bit, turn up the pace a bit, and they started pulling away two, three tenths per lap.
“That was enough for them to have that safety margin and bring it home.”
Ferrari weakness versus McLaren exposed
McLaren dominated proceedings throughout the entire weekend in Abu Dhabi, with 1-2s in both the second and third practice sessions preceding a front-row lockout.
Sainz has conceded Ferrari’s SF-24 was spurning too much time through the long, winding corners relative to McLaren at the Yas Marina Circuit to mount a challenge.
However, the Spaniard has denied that the Maranello-based squad can use McLaren’s package being better tailored to the venue’s high-speed demands as an excuse.
“I think realistically, once you look in detail the layout of the track, I think I kind of understand that they are a bit quicker,” he acknowledged.
“If all the track was long straights and Turn 6 and 7s, then I think we would be flying around here.
“But unfortunately, we have Turn 1, we have Turn 9, where the McLaren is a clear step ahead of us, like we saw in Qatar.
“And yeah, they’re simply a better package for this circuit.
“It’s unfortunate that the last two races of the season, it’s come to tracks where maybe the McLaren is just that last tenth, two tenths quicker.
“But at the same time, that’s how the season goes. And if that’s the case, we should have done our homework earlier.”
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