Ferrari drivers explain 'one-off' poor performance in Mexican GP

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were in stealth mode during most of Sunday's Mexican Grand Prix, meaning the pair enjoyed an anonymous run to fifth and sixth at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez.

Neither driver was a force to be reckoned with in the event's proceedings, their F1-75 comprehensively outpaced in the 71-lap race by Red Bull and Mercedes' contenders, leaving the Scuderia with its worst two-car finish of the season.

Sainz and Leclerc both had a theory to explain their team's under-performance, a one-off disappointment they insisted, due in large part of Mexico's unique high-altitude conditions.

"We knew going into the weekend, with this car, with this altitude, we knew we were going to lose quite a bit of performance," said Sainz. "We were just off the pace."

Despite the shortfall, the Spaniard was nevertheless happy to have seen the checkered after his opening lap DNFs in japan and in Austin.

"We were one minute away [from Verstappen], but I haven't done a race in a month so it was nice to actually do it and have a good race with the pace management."

• 2022 Mexican Grand Prix - Race results

On the other side of the Scuderia's garage, Leclerc, who once again lost P2 in the Drivers' standings to Sergio Perez, reckoned Ferrari had "maximized absolutely everything" in Sunday's race, with little to show for its efforts.

"Today, I felt like an explanation was that it was a bit of a one-off here to the different conditions and I hope we can come back to our usual performance in Brazil," he said.

"I feel like we've maximised absolutely everything today - and even though we've done that, we are still one minute away from Max, which is a huge difference.

"So we need to look into making our bad days better, because whenever we have a bad day, especially on a Sunday, it is a really bad day."

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