Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur expressed his frustration with Carlos Sainz after the Spaniard made excuses for not being able to get into Q3 on Saturday. The Frenchman’s remarks come after Sainz blamed his poor performances on the medium tire. According to the 28-year-old, this prevented him from making it into the last session of qualifying.
Since it was mandatory for all drivers to use the medium tire during Q2 as per the new qualifying format, Sainz was far from happy. As quoted by racingnews365.com, he said, “It is unfortunate that on this particular weekend. You have to be using the medium in Q2, but that’s how it goes“.
🇭🇺Not happy to miss out on Q3 for the first time this year by only two thousandths. I haven’t been comfortable on Mediums and I paid the price at the tightest Quali of the season.We’ll try to gain positions to bring home some good points
–#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/bqLC9R8v6f
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) July 22, 2023
What was more disappointing for Sainz was the way his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc outperformed him. Even though the Monegasque had similar issues to Sainz, managed to get his car into the top ten. Now, Sainz’s boss Vasseur has seemingly called him out for making excuses to hide his poor showing.
Fred Vasseur believes Carlos Sainz needs to blame himself for Q2 exit
While speaking in the post-qualifying interview, Fred Vasseur refused to blame the new qualifying format behind Sainz and Ferrari’s underperformance. He believes that Ferrari find themselves in this mess because of their failure to adapt to this new format, unlike other teams.
“We expected a lot more for qualifying because we also did well in free practice 2 and in the various simulations. We don’t have to look for excuses, if it went like this it means that it was we who didn’t work well,” explained Vasseur in his post-qualifying interview with Sky Sports (as quoted by corrieredellosport.it).
After stating the same, he also added, “The new format has nothing to do with it. It’s the same for everyone“. The Ferrari team principal defended his point by citing Alfa Romeo as an example.
He explained how Alfa Romeo were able to qualify in fifth and seventh on the grid despite not getting any major upgrades this weekend. And since Sainz will start the main race from outside the top 10, he will have to be at his best in order to leave Budapest with a big points haul.
Sainz reveals he will attack to minimize Q2 exit damage
Even though the Hungaroring is not the easiest circuits to overtake on, Carlos Sainz is keen on minimizing the damage that took place following his Q2 exit. The Spaniard revealed in his post-qualifying interview with DAZN that he will attack from the get-go to see where it gets him.
Considering where Ferrari find themselves in the championship, they will desperately need every extra point that Sainz can score this weekend. As things stand, the prancing horse are currently fourth in the championship with 157 points.
They are 24 points behind third-placed Aston Martin and a further 22 points behind second-placed Mercedes. And considering the gap that Ferrari already have to the Silver Arrows, they undoubtedly cannot afford to drop too many points if they are to still fight for second place in the championship.
