Carlos Sainz shared his disappointment following the British Grand Prix, emphasizing the setback caused by Ferrari’s decision to revert to its Imola specification.
The move, necessary to address high-speed bouncing issues, has set back the team’s development progress by “two or three months,” as stated by the Spaniard.
Sainz qualified seventh at Silverstone and delivered a solid performance in a challenging race with changing track conditions, finishing fifth. This was nine places ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, who struggled after switching to Intermediate tires too early when rain approached.
However, Sainz’s main concern extended beyond the race result and circumstances to Ferrari’s halted development progress.
Ferrari’s recent upgrades, including the revised floor introduced in Barcelona, negatively affected the SF-24 with severe bouncing issues in high-speed corners, impacting performance and driver comfort in Spain and Austria.
To address these issues, Ferrari experimented with different setups during Friday practice at Silverstone, leading them to revert to the Imola specification before Barcelona.
While this improved driveability in high-speed corners at Silverstone, it came at the cost of overall pace, causing Ferrari to fall behind rivals like Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren who have made successful upgrades in recent months.
©Ferrari
“It is clearly not good enough,” Sainz acknowledged. “We have essentially the same car as in Imola and while everyone has upgraded, we have had to revert, losing crucial progress and performance in recent months.”
Upcoming races in Hungary and Belgium before F1’s summer break will follow. Sainz anticipates coping with the SF-24’s new floor in Hungary but regards reverting to the old package in Spa as necessary.
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