Carlos Sainz Fears Sergio Perez’s Threat for Bahrain GP After “Not Fully Understanding” Qualifying Flaw

The season has kicked off with qualifyings concluded and yet again Max Verstappen takes pole position with Ferrari following a close second. Charles Leclerc came in second with his teammate Carlos Sainz Jr coming in 4th. After the qualifying, Sainz spoke about his experience back on track as the Bahrain Qualifying of 2024 is concluded.

The Smooth Operator said, “After Q2, I was pretty confident, and low 28 was possible in this car and in these conditions, and for some reason, I don’t fully understand, we were not able to find 2 or 3 tenths going into Q2 which is normally the progression that you find.”

Formula One F1 – United States Grand Prix – Circuit of the Americas, Austin, Texas, U.S. – October 19, 2023 Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz Jr. during the press conference REUTERS/Brian SnyderFerrari was quick during the qualifiers and that has often been noticed by the racers in red, but being behind by the fraction of a second and unable to close the gap, is something that he says the team needs to look into. After that, the Spaniard stated, “We are top 4 with a very tight, tight field so it’s something to be proud about and now we will look into more.”

Carlos Sainz was then questioned about his thoughts on whether they can go up against Red Bull, that’s where he said, “I think with Red Bulls, Checo starts behind but with new tires, so it will be difficult to beat Checo.” Moving on from the Mexican, he spoke about Verstappen starting at pole, saying, “We just need to be worried that Max has a completely different race pace to the rest of the field but everyone else, we are there to fight, so we will put together the best possible race and see.”

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With this, Ferrari has gauged their competition and has understood that there is a gap to close. Carlos Sainz Jr is a technically knowledgeable driver, and his inputs will be used to tune the car better for their further races.

Will Ferrari be able to beat their rivals at Mercedes?

Looks like Ferrari is sick of not winning championships and being a constant third has not suited their legacy. Ferrari needs a comeback and Frederic Vasseur is doing everything in his power to make this happen. Although he decided to replace Carlos Sainz Jr with Lewis Hamilton in 2025, they are not ignoring this season.

For 2024, both the drivers showed a strong performance on the track, and looks like the Tifosi might have something to cheer about. While the first race is about to start in just a few hours, the qualifiers show that the racers are ready to score some points.

The competition between Ferrari and Mercedes was close with everything going down to the last race. The battle ended with a difference of just 3 points with Mercedes in the lead. Mercedes still has Hamilton and George Russell has been pulling his weight.

But the question stands, will the Silver arrows pierce the prancing horse? Or will Ferrari run faster than the arrow across the chequered flag? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.