Sainz: More ‘normal tracks' needed to gauge Ferrari upgrades

Carlos Sainz reckons Ferrari made a step forward thanks to the updates introduced at Monza last weekend, although the Spaniard believes that confirmation of its performance boost is needed at more “normal tracks”.

The Scuderia entered its home race with several changes implemented on its SF-24, a few of which catered to Monza’s low-downforce environment while others were the result of the Italian outfit’s aerodynamic development programme.

This was the case for its car’s modified floor that included several tweaks that aimed to improve airflow and reduce aero losses downstream.

On Saturday, Sainz qualified fifth, just 0.006s behind teammate Charles Leclerc, while he finished his race in fourth position, having been overhauled in the closing stages of the event by McLaren drivers Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Based on his performance, Sainz felt that Ferrari was on an equal footing to McLaren at Monza, a testament to the SF-24’s upgrades. However, he also made clear that circumstances and the circuit’s traits may have benefitted its car’s pure pace.

• Read also: Vasseur believes McLaren’s tactics at Monza benefitted Leclerc

“Today we were in a genuine race with the McLarens,” commented Sainz, who celebrated his 30th birthday on race day.

“I think obviously here the tow makes a bit of a difference and I think I lost the tow around Lap 15 when they boxed and I could really feel how slow you become without it.

“Then they formed a train of three cars and I was in the middle of nowhere with Lewis in my tow following my pace but I genuinely think today we were in the race with the McLarens which was great to see.

“At the same time it’s Monza and a very particular Monza, we’ll need to wait to see more normal tracks to see if this upgrade has really turned our season around and we’re going to fight for wins from now on or we’re going to go back to what we saw in Zandvoort.”

Sainz specifically singled out the SF-24’s all-important floor as an element that required further validation.

“We need more samples on this new floor and we need to go to more normal tracks, I guess the next normal one is Austin because the ones coming up are very particular [Baku and Singapore].

“Austin is more back to a more normal race track and that will tell us how good we are with this new floor.”

Like Leclerc, who secured at Italy’s Temple of Speed his seventh career win in Formula 1, Sainz adhered to the team’s daring medium-to-hard one-stop strategy.

Although he was unable to match his teammate’s pace with his car, the future Williams charger lauded Leclerc’s performance in the race while acknowledging the significance of it being his final Italian Grand Prix as a Ferrari driver.

“It’s been an incredible weekend for me,” he admitted. “I’ve enjoyed it a lot, it’s a shame not to be on the podium today, at the same time I feel like today was a bit of a coin toss, whether to stay out or not, get it right.

“Charles and I live together with the team, with me, if we wanted to be in that fight we probably would have needed to stay in the train with the cars ahead after the first pit stop and we just lost the chance of a podium there, but honestly very happy to see the team winning here this weekend.

“I wish I was up there with the podium with Charles, but I think he deserves the win more than anyone today, so congrats.”

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