Carlos Sainz Laments Over Ferrari’s “Worst Possible” Weaknesses After a Disastrous Spanish Grand Prix

Carlos Sainz started his home race in Spain with great optimism of finishing in the top three. Unfortunately, due to Ferrari’s slow pace, he couldn’t outperform the Red Bull and Mercedes cars, which led to him finishing P5. In an interview with Sky Sports after the race, Sainz talked about why the Spanish GP was the ‘worst possible’ track for them.

Sainz put in a brilliant performance during the qualifying session on Saturday. He put the SF23 in P2, which was just one place behind Max Verstappen. In front of his home fans, he was more motivated than ever to perform at the highest level. But despite his best efforts, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, and Sergio Perez, all breezed past him.

Sainz finished fifth, and along with Charles Leclerc’s 11th-place finish, it was a miserable weekend for Ferrari, all things considered. After the culmination of the Grand Prix, Sainz spoke about how the track was not at all suited to Ferrari, and played strongly to their weaknesses.

Ferrari weaknesses brought to light, says Carlos Sainz

Sainz admitted that deep down, he knew how difficult holding on to his starting position would be. Throughout the 2023 season so far, Ferrari has struggled with straight-line speed, and on high-speed corners. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a track that has the ‘worst possible’ layout for the SF23.

On top of that, because it is a circuit with high tyre degradation, both Ferrari drivers suffered even more. “We know race pace and high-speed corners is our main weakness,” said Sainz. 

“Unfortunately, Barcelona has a high degradation tarmac, a high degradation configuration, and a lot of high-speed corners which is our main weakness. That’s why today we were struggling so much out there. We probably just put the upgrade in the worst possible circuit for us, which also doesn’t help.”

Talking about the future, however, Sainz feels that the whole team is more united than ever. He expects them to bounce back with the existing upgrades in the races to come.

Mercedes and Aston Martin are pulling away from Ferrari

Aston Martin didn’t have the best of weekends in Barcelona, with Fernando Alonso and Co. losing ground to Mercedes. The Silver Arrows have now overtaken Aston Martin in the standings, and a close battle for P2 in the standings is slowly shaping up.

Unfortunately for Ferrari, both these teams are pulling away because of better points hauls on a more consistent basis. Ferrari remain fourth in the constructors’ championship standings, 34 points behind Aston Martin in P3 and 52 points behind Mercedes in P2.

Behind them, a resurgent Alpine seems to be making up for a slow start to the season. Currently, they are 60 points behind the Maranello-based outfit, but the gap could get even smaller if Ferrari doesn’t pick up their form soon.