Carlos Sainz puffs out his chest at Ferrari while Charles Leclerc clicks on bone in Miami

2023-05-07 10:01:24

In just a week it is amazing how things can change. If in Baku, Carlos Sainz he was splicing scares and problems one after the other, in Miami he is his teammate Charles Leclerc the one who has been suffering a lot for a weekend. It is possible that the circuit located in the Hard Rock Stadium has a less extreme layout than the one in the capital of Azerbaijan, but its nature is quite similar and, above all, its equally intimidating walls. The diverse fate of the Ferrari drivers in the two scenarios perfectly exemplifies how thin the line is between success and disaster in current Formula 1. In a matter of days, Sainz has gone from making his worst classification, to the best of the season.

It could be argued that we will never know what would have happened if the qualifying session had not been cancelled, because at the moment the red flag was raised, several pilots were about to complete their last attempt, but it does not change the fact that Carlos Sainz is having an impeccable weekend at the moment. “He had more to have been on top. I think we all had something left in our pockets. I had a good first sector when the red flag came out, but it is what it is. We are third, which is more or less where we expected to be”, lamented the Spanish pilot.

Carlos Sainz was very solid on Friday and Saturday (Reuters/Mike Segar).

The runway exit Charles Leclerc was not the first to suffer this weekend from the Monegasque, because already in the second free practice session he suffered a quite similar accident. “This shows that our car is difficult. I made some mistakes in FP3, (third free practice session), in short we suffered with the car in a special way in some corners. I know I’m really good at rankingmost of the time I manage to extract the absolute maximum from the car, but, nevertheless, again I made the same mistake as yesterday,” said Sainz’s Ferrari teammate.

A difficult and unpredictable coach

Knowing Sainz of how treacherous the behavior of the Ferrari can be, The man from Madrid threw a week ago prudently to prevent what happened to Leclerc in Miami from happening to him in Baku. “Here I have felt good since Free Practice 1. We have changed some things, but it is a sport that is sometimes difficult to understand, because you go to the track and things don’t work as they should or you don’t feel them as you should. Although we have sensors and data, sometimes we don’t know how to hit the key. For this reason, after Baku, we saw that the configuration was not correct and that contrasts with the fact that here… we do feel good and I have returned to the rhythm I had (two races ago) in Melbourne,” said Sainz.

The two Ferrari drivers would coincide in how difficult it is to ride the SF23 in high speed corners, being very sensitive and unstable. The improvement of the car is evident, because the speed at one lap is almost at the level of the Red Bull, but the price to pay for the moment are the enormous risks that must be assumed. Most likely, had he been able to complete his final lap, Sainz would have managed to overtake Fernando Alonso for second place, but in any case, third place on the grid is his best ranking so far this season.

The renewed asphalt of the circuit, much more settled than last year, as well as some modifications to the layout, means that there are still many unknowns to be cleared up in the tuning of the cars. For example, depending on the moments of the session, better times were achieved with used tires than with new ones. Surely, with the occasional presence of strong gusts of wind, it is also possible that the work of aerodynamic optimization of the cars did not reach its goal. And if there were few questions that were on the minds of the engineers, the possible presence of rain on Sunday could give rise to many surprises. Even if it does not rain during the race and the race is run in dry conditions, the downpours will leave a tread much less adherent for the race from which the drivers met during qualifying. A problem and at the same time an extraordinary opportunity.

goal, the podium

“The big question for tomorrow is How are we going to perform in the heat?. Normally this increases our weakness in the race, but this weekend we should be better and be able to get closer to the podium, which would be a good result. The Red Bulls are very fast, but I think we will have a good fight with the Mercedes, with Fernando, with Maxwho will come back and will surely overtake us, because in race pace they are six or eight tenths ahead… I think it will be an exciting race”, Sainz acknowledged.

The three will give war. (EFE/Chandan Khanna)

The output will be key to check if there are still the huge differences that existed last year between the outside area and the inside area. Then there is the circumstance of starting with two other Spanish-speaking pilots and also friends such as Fernando Alonso and Checo Pérez, who will start in the pole position. “The start is going to be just as intense as if they were English or whatever. You put on your helmet and try to do your best,” Sainz admitted with a smile. “We left on the clean side, That’s something positive, we’ll try to overtake and, if not, the race pace will put us in the position we should be. It is in this area that we still lack a bit with this Ferrari. We will try to do everything possible to finish on the podium tomorrow“, settled.

In just a week it is amazing how things can change. If in Baku, Carlos Sainz he was splicing scares and problems one after the other, in Miami he is his teammate Charles Leclerc the one who has been suffering a lot for a weekend. It is possible that the circuit located in the Hard Rock Stadium has a less extreme layout than the one in the capital of Azerbaijan, but its nature is quite similar and, above all, its equally intimidating walls. The diverse fate of the Ferrari drivers in the two scenarios perfectly exemplifies how thin the line is between success and disaster in current Formula 1. In a matter of days, Sainz has gone from making his worst classification, to the best of the season.