“Today we suffered.” That isn’t something Carlos Sainz has had to say often recently. At least after the summer break, following which he seems to have found his groove with Ferrari’s SF-23. A race win, two pole positions, two podiums—it’s all been going pretty well for the Spaniard. Although his teammate has gotten the upper hand on him a few more times than he’d have liked, Sainz hasn’t been far off. Well, that was until the Brazilian GP weekend, and especially the Sprint race.

Despite starting the weekend on a high with a P1 in Free Practice 1 (even though it wasn’t too representative of the potential pecking order), Sainz and Ferrari knew this weekend in Iterlagos would be tough for them. After a challenging outing though, Sainz was quick to express his feelings on social media.

Carlos Sainz didn’t have the best time on Saturday at the Brazilian GP

Sainz’s misfortunes started on Friday. Following his P1 in FP1, the Spaniard could only manage a P8 in qualifying, while his teammate Charles Leclerc qualified in P2. Ferrari isn’t the best with tire degradation, and Interlagos is quite aggressive when it comes to it. Considering this—and how most of 2023 has played out—Sainz would’ve expected to get a good qualifying result. But it didn’t happen on Friday and it didn’t happen on Saturday.

During the Sprint Shootout, he qualified in another lowly P9. The Sprint wasn’t any better. Starting among McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and AlphaTauri’s Daniel Ricciardo, fighting against them shouldn’t have been too tough. But for most of the 24 laps, Sainz was stuck in an intense battle with them. He could barely keep up with Yuki Tsunoda and Leclerc and could manage only a P8. Sainz gave his reasons for the uncompetitive pace without wasting any time, posting an update on Instagram.

He wrote, “Today we suffered more than expected in the Sprint, with a lot of lift and coast to manage engine temps and then the tires. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better and we can push! 💪🏻” Lifting and coasting involves lifting off the throttle earlier than usual while braking for a corner—letting the drag reduce his speed—and coasting the car into the corner. This reduces the speed of the car but it helps in managing brake temperatures and reducing engine temperatures. Sainz was clearly struggling with overheating issues, and considering he had to lift and coast, that didn’t help his pace.

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Speaking of pace—and the fact that Sainz hopes for better on Sunday—he wouldn’t mind repeating his Brazilian masterclass from 2019.

Carlos Sainz’s 2019 Brazilian GP fight through the field

The lifting and coasting for Saturday’s Sprint didn’t help Sainz’s case. However, it did give everyone a great battle to watch between him and Ricciardo for the last points finish. It was a crucial point the Spaniard picked up, especially considering Ferrari’s P2 fight against Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes in the championship. Speaking of fighting Hamilton, Sainz had good memories in Brazil courtesy of Hamilton.

Back in 2019, when he was with McLaren, Sainz started in P20. Throughout the race, he took care of his tires and was aggressive on the overtakes. In the end, he crossed the line in P4. To make things better, Hamilton in P3 got a post-race penalty that promoted Sainz to P3, giving him his first career podium (and the first of three post-race podiums so far).

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Do you think Carlos Sainz and Ferrari can find a way around the overheating problems for Sunday’s race? And can the Spaniard emulate his 2019 performance?