Carlos Sainz Decodes Ferrari’s Worst F1 Start Since 2009 With Hope for a Utopian Scenario: “Would Be Easier to Accept”

Last year felt like a dream to see Ferrari so close to winning the Championship. It made us believe that Ferrari has finally returned to the glory days of the formidable Michael Schumacher. But winning the title is impossible without the right car, so in the end, they had to settle for second place. Going into 2023, they had one thing to do – work on their car to challenge Red Bull in the championship fight. But they failed, and 2023 already turned out to be Ferrari’s worst season yet. 

After a series of crashes and penalties, Ferrari scored a combined total of just 26 in the first three races, marking it the worst start to a season since 2009 when they scored zero points. Although Charles Leclerc‘s podium finish in Baku felt like Ferrari’s resurrection, the ‘engine saga’ continued with yet another Leclerc crash in the Miami GP. The only high note of the race was Carlos Sainz qualifying in P3 behind Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. However, that also ended in disappointment as Sainz finished P5 after he failed to get onto the podium by beating Alonso. The worst part is, Ferrari turned out to be slower than Mercedes. But Sainz says something else hurts him more than finishing fifth. 

Explaining what bothers him the most, Carlos Sainz told and as quoted by The Race, “It doesn’t hurt me so much to be fourth in the Constructors or fifth or sixth in the Drivers, the difference with Red Bull hurts me more. If we were now fourth in the Manufacturers, but knowing that every weekend we have the opportunity to take pole position and win, it would be easier to accept. Red Bull has turned out to be very fast this year and it has caught us by surprise, not just us, I think Mercedes and Aston Martin would never expect the gap they have.” 

Despite the difficulties, the man from Madrid wanted to highlight the positive side, so he added, “As a driver, putting that aside, I feel like I understand how I should drive this generation of cars. I understand how I want to set up the car to my liking and that leaves me with fewer variables to think about over the weekend. It hasn’t been an easy start, but I feel that even if the car is more difficult than last year, I understand that difficulty better and I can set up and drive the car in my own way,” he concluded.

Read more: “Perfect fit for Ferrari”: Despite an F1 Roller-Coaster, Charles Leclerc’s Dynamic With the Scuderia Deemed a Match Made in Heaven

However, the Spaniard’s hope to understand the car is far from reality, as the SF-23 has a mind of its own.   

‘not ideal to have confidence in the car’: Charles Leclerc as Ferrari struggles to find a fix 

Both Ferrari drivers struggled throughout the Miami Grand Prix. After a crash in qualifying, Leclerc started only seventh and failed to make headway throughout the race. Eventually, he finished in the same position and 52.9 seconds behind winner Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who started ninth. Teammate Carlos Sainz meanwhile finished fifth, having started third as the lack of race pace that has plagued Ferrari. Another day where Ferrari’s race pace couldn’t match their quali prowess!

After the disappointing race, Leclerc looked frustrated by the lack of consistency of the Ferrari SF-23 and said, “We are competitive in qualifying and once we come to race day we are struggling like crazy. The window of our car is so narrow and whenever you get a little bit out it has huge consequences on the balance.”

During the race, Leclerc also looked under-confident while trying to get past Kevin Magnussen’s Haas on medium tires. Explaining why, the Ferrari driver told Sky Sports F1, “It’s from one corner to the other. Even in one corner, you can have huge understeer which goes to huge oversteer and this is obviously not ideal to have confidence in the car. We have a lot of work to do, we need to find something now. We are struggling in the race for a little bit of time now so we need to come up with solutions.”

Watch this story: “What has become an Incessant Problem for Charles Leclerc & Carlos Sainz in Ferrari’s F1 Challenger?”

Right now, Ferrari sits fourth in the points table with just 78 points – a stark 146 points difference from their 2022 Championship rivals Red Bull.