Carlos Sainz says Ferrari's effort to solve its front tyre issues after last June's French Grand Prix was one of "the most impressive" things he has ever seen as a racing driver.
Both Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc's race at Paul Ricard was unexpectedly undermined by massive front tyre degradation that left both drivers outside the points at the end of the day.
The tyre woes immediately triggered an investigation by Ferrari whose engineers, helped by Sainz and Leclerc, tacked the issue head on the following day at Maranello.
Sainz says he was left extremely impressed by the Scuderia's swift and uncompromising reaction.
"Well, there’s been a lot of emphasis and focus put on this issue," said the Spaniard.
"The fallback in Paul Ricard was so dramatic in a way because we were all so surprised and said: ‘OK, we need to change this, and we need to tackle this as aggressive and as soon as we can’.
"The minute that happened, we all flew back to Maranello, we put together a few meetings, a few analysis and it was two, nearly three days intense work in the simulator, in simulations, in understanding our car to see what was the issue in our car to cause this huge problem.
"The way that the team reacted to that, was quite impressive in a way that – to see such a big team, such a big boat going to tackle in one direction all pushing in the same way to this problem, and seeing how many theories, how many projects came up to try and solve - it was one of the most impressive feelings I’ve got as a racing driver, just to see such a big organisation tackling one certain issue."
Ferrari's hard work went a long way towards solving the SF21's degradation troubles. And despite the whirlwind of worries sparked by the quandary at the time, Sainz actually enjoyed the investigative and solving process that followed.
"I enjoyed it a lot, and it was a good process," he added.
"As drivers obviously we cannot do much more than give precise feedback, precise detail of what we feel in the car, how we feel the tyres are being affected by our driving, about the balance we have and let the engineers take care of the rest.
"It was good fun and I enjoyed it a lot."
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