Carlos Sainz has come forward to temper the hype surrounding Ferrari’s latest upgrade package for their home race at Imola. While the upgrades worked as intended, the Spanish driver suggested that some expectations had been ‘completely out of reality.’
Ferrari recently introduced a series of comprehensive upgrades to their car, covering the floor, wings, sidepods, and engine cover, at their first home race in Imola. These developments raised the hopes of Ferrari fans (tifosi) that the Scuderia could challenge Red Bull, especially after McLaren’s impressive performance in Miami following their own updates.
However, Saturday’s qualifying did not quite match the high expectations. Both Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc were outperformed by Max Verstappen and the McLaren duo. Leclerc qualified fourth, two-tenths of a second behind Verstappen, while Sainz qualified fifth, almost half a second adrift. Despite this, Sainz felt the new components did exactly what was expected.
“It’s worked exactly as we expected,” said Sainz. “For some reason, everyone expected us to be flying this weekend with the new package. I’ve been seeing numbers of our package going around that were completely out of reality. Nowadays, already to bring a tenth is a good job by your team. I’m not saying we’ve brought one, two, or half a tenth, but not the numbers people were mentioning.”
Sainz had anticipated a tough battle against McLaren, believing Imola to be more suited to their car’s characteristics. “We have come to a McLaren circuit, which is Imola, and I think it was always going to be difficult to beat McLaren around here,” he explained.
Ferrari struggled notably through the first sector and at the Variante Alta chicane. Sainz found it puzzling how they could be four tenths of a second slower in just one sector, attributing part of the deficit to a tailwind from Tamburello to Tosa that particularly hampered Ferrari’s handling.
Leclerc offered his own insight, pointing to Red Bull’s ability to handle kerbs more aggressively as a key factor. “We don’t understand what we are missing there [at Tamburello],” he told Sky Sports Italy. “We tried many things but it’s always the same corners that penalise us. It’s something we know and work on; it’s not something we discover now. We know a strong point of the Red Bulls is how far they can go on the kerbs. I tried to take the kerbs, but with our car, we can’t do the same thing right now.”
Despite the challenges, Ferrari’s upgrades have not been in vain. Sainz will start fourth on the grid after Oscar Piastri’s penalty for impeding another driver. Both drivers and the team remain focused on closing the performance gap to their rivals in the upcoming races.
In summary, Ferrari’s recent upgrades have not instantly catapulted them ahead of the competition as some had hoped. Carlos Sainz’s candid remarks highlight the realistic and incremental progress the team is making. As they continue to develop their car, the tifosi will have to be patient and manage their expectations.
