Carlos Sainz says a lack of confidence in the rear end of his Ferrari SF-23 has left him in "damage limitation" mode this weekend in Baku.
Since Friday, the Spaniard has played second fiddle to teammate Charles Leclerc. While the Monegasque topped both qualifying sessions in Baku, Sainz concluded Friday's running P4, 0.813s behind Leclerc, and classified fifth in both Sprint events on Saturday.
Sainz justified his struggles by a lack of confidence in his car and by the Sprint format's parc fermé rules that prevented him from undertaking any changes to his SF-23 after Friday's single practice session.
©Ferrari
"Not surprised when you can’t change anything in the car or can’t experiment to get yourself comfortable, then you are in a difficult weekend like I am now," Sainz told Sky Sports.
"I’ve made some steps with my driving and changing a few things, and adjusting to the balance we have.
"With the pace we have, it’s more of a damage limitation weekend for me than anything else," Saizn admitted.
"I am really struggling with confidence, and really feeling on the limit of the rear axle. It’s not a nice feeling to have around Baku."
Sainz said he would dig in after this weekend to try and better understand his underperformance.
"I’m going to need more time after this weekend to really go deeper in the data, because now with this format you just simply don’t have time
"You’re going into a quali, into a race into another quali, and it’s impossible to take conclusions or to change anything that would help me for sure get a bit more comfortable.
"So I’m a bit stuck. But as I said, it gets to a point where you just need to accept it. It’s one weekend in my life that I’m feeling this strange situation and at this point is more damage limitation."
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