Carlos Sainz has expressed “relief” at the performance of Ferrari’s new SF-24, insisting he has a car that he can “attack” with for the first time since Austria last year.
At last weekend’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, Sainz secured a podium finish, albeit 25 seconds behind the dominant Red Bull of Max Verstappen.
However, as Scuderia boss Fred Vasseur highlighted, this gap was significantly smaller than the 50-second deficit he faced in the same race last year.
This improvement can be attributed, at least in part, to the SF-24's seemingly better race pace, a major deficit in 2023 when tyre degradation consistently weighed on Sainz and teammate Charles Leclerc’s efforts on Sundays.
Sainz now feels he finally has a car that allows him to be aggressive and fight for victories, offering a glimmer of hope for a more competitive season for Ferrari in 2024.
“It's a bit of a relief because the last race where I was attacking was Austria, and we're talking about 13, 14 races ago,” Sainz commented, quoted by Motorsport.com.
“And then the rest of the races last year you just had to manage, look in the mirrors, control your pace. And there were very little opportunities to go and overtake people.
"I love going racing, and I love going overtaking, being aggressive, attacking. And with last year's car, it was simply impossible to do that.
“I remember at the car launch saying this year I wish we had a car to go racing and attack people and don't care too much about the tyres. And it's exactly what we got.
“I got an attacking race, a really good race pace and from there everything felt really good to finish P3. I enjoyed it a lot.”
Red Bull and Max Verstappen picked up in Bahrain where they left off in Abu Dhabi last November and all signs point to another banner year for the pair.
However, Sainz believes that Ferrari’s performance at Sakhir bodes well for the Scuderia’s chances of taking the fight to the bulls at venues less suited to the RB20’s outstanding characteristics.
©Ferrari
"The advantage of Red Bull in Bahrain is what you saw very, very clearly," Sainz thought.
"I think it's interesting how they can keep the C3 soft tyre alive for a bit longer than the rest, how they tend to overheat a bit less. Maybe that's what makes the car also not as competitive in qualifying and so good in the race in a track like Bahrain.
"Now we need more samples, but I expect Red Bull always to be better in the race like they were last year.
"Look at the last eight races between Charles and me. We managed to do some pole positions, a lot of front rows, but then Max in the race was pulling away massively and Checo was always able to overtake us."
"I hope that this year's trait is not as exaggerated and we've made a good step forward in that sense."
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