Red Bull might have swept to a 1-2 finish in first practice for the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka International Racing Course, but Carlos Sainz has stated his belief that Ferrari is closing the gap to their rivals.
Sainz won the most recent race in Australia after Max Verstappen retired with a brake fire and Sergio Perez suffered from debris stuck inder the RB20, allowing Sainz to take the lead of the race with his team mate Charles Leclerc second.
It shows that Red Bull is not completely invincible. And even though Verstappen and Perez have been bullish about their prospects this weekend in Japan, Sainz believes that Ferrari is getting ever closer to the world champions.
Sainz was third fastest in FP1, just 0.213s behind Verstappen's best time of the day. Neither Red Bull took part in a rain-hit second practice, and Sainz only completed a late sighting lap without setting a time.
It means that all the teams are going into Saturday lacking data, unsure of how everyone stands at this iconic circuit.
"It was not an ideal Friday as we lost all of the second session due to the changing conditions," he lamented. "I was looking forward to the afternoon session to continue working on the setup..
"But the track was too wet for slicks and too dry for intermediates, so it really made no sense to run and we decided to stay in the garage. "Anyway, we are all in the same situation.
“Honestly a bit closer to the Red Bulls than I anticipated or expected,” Sainz said when asked for his verdict on the day. "So, positive signs in terms of progress made from five months ago to now."
©Ferrari
That's the gap in time since the last F1 race here, with the venue having been moved up the running order in the calendar to make better logistical sense by grouping it with Australia and China.
The difference in season from autumn to spring means that the drivers are facing cooler conditions this weekend, which may have an impact on the form book.
"Obviously last year, we were eight-tenths off in quali," he noted. "So to be two-tenths off in FP1 was a good feeling, or a good starting base. But [Red Bull] are going to be difficult to beat this weekend.
"Red Bull are a step ahead but a smaller step ahead than maybe I thought, so it should be an interesting fight out there," he added. "It looks again tight with the McLarens and the Mercs."
"The car is just better this year, which helps!” Sainz replied when asked why Ferrari was getting closer. "When you do a good winter test, we understood the car well, we found a set-up that more or less seems to work everywhere.
“I was confident in Bahrain, confident in Jeddah, confident in Australia, hit the ground running here this morning," he continued, reporting no lingering concerns after his emergency appendectomy last month.
©Ferrari
It was also a good day for Leclerc, who was sixth fastest in FP1 despite being only a fraction over half a second behind Verstappen's top time.
“There's still plenty to learn and we've still got quite a lot of things to try, but we've got FP3 hopefully tomorrow if there's no rain, and there we'll be able to test the things that are still on hold, because one [session isn't enough].
"[If] you do only the first run and then the track is very green, it's very slippery, so you cannot really learn anything on that first run and then you go on the soft, but we only had one or two laps.
"So, very little running and still a lot of questions to answer and things to fix before qualifying," he summarised, saying that springing a surprise on his rivals remained the objective for the weekend.
"I'll do my best, this is the target for sure. But in order to do so, we need to make sure that we are prepared in the best possible way for tomorrow," he said.
"At the moment I still feel like we're lacking a little bit of pace to go and challenge for pole position, because Red Bull seem strong and especially Max up until now. So still quite a bit of work to do.
"But if there's a special lap to be done, I hope I'll be the one to do it.”
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