Sainz: Ferrari’s poor starts ‘something to look into’

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari needs to investigate why Charles Leclerc and himself suffered relatively poor launches off the grid in Mexico City last weekend.

Leclerc and Sainz had locked out the front row following a strong performance in qualifying on Saturday.

But when the lights went out on race day at the Autodomo Hermanos Rodriguez, neither driver was able to hold his own against the rocket launches of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and especially Sergio Perez.

“We need to have a look at the starts,” said Sainz after the race. “We both didn’t get a very good launch.

“I think Charles and I got away very similar and then Verstappen was just very quick off the line.”

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2023 Mexican GP

Sainz noted that the team’s practice launches on Friday and at the end of Saturday’s FP3 session had been sub-optimal due in part to the track’s lack of grip.

“We’ve been struggling a bit with the starts since FP1 at this surface and with this grip,” the Spaniard explained. “We probably didn’t get everything perfect for this weekend after some very strong starts recently. So it’s something to look at.”

Sunday’s first start saw three drivers – Perez, Leclerc and Verstappen – barrel into the first corner three-wide, with Perez then colliding with the Monegasque. The latter survived the clash while the Mexican’s car suffered terminal damage.

Sainz, who was directly behind the trio, was not surprised by the commotion that developed at Turn 1, a frequent occurrence at the Mexican track.

“It was very tricky braking into turn one,” he said. “Everyone tries to outbrake themselves to try and keep position and I think Checo was the unlucky one, Charles probably a lucky one and it’s how it is, it’s racing and it’s always going to happen here in turn one in Mexico.”

Ferrari’s chargers enjoyed a better launch off the line on the second restart, although Sainz was forced to move on to the grass to avoid contact with Hamilton.

“I cannot even remember what happened,” he admitted. “There was so much going on that I need to look back at the start and see what happened.

“I also got boxed into the grass and I had to take avoiding action, so it just shows that one day it’s for you, one day it’s for me. It’s just all of us fighting for each position like crazy and it’s good fun.”

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