“To use a footballing metaphor”– Ferrari plans to find opportunities to exploit during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, as the quest for P3 continues.
Ferrari is having a much better season than last year and has made massive advancements to gain their objectives this season. In Monaco, a P2 by Carlos Sainz showed that Ferrari is a team to be reckoned with this year.
But Sainz feels that the advantage over there was a one-off instance, as Monaco’s characteristics helped them. He still thinks Mercedes and Red Bull have a huge advantage against them.
“I think we have to take the special features of the track into account,” said the Spaniard. “Even before we went there, we had a car that ran very well in the lower rev range. We managed to generate the necessary downforce.”
“We were also pretty competitive on the short straights there, so it’s a combination of factors that come together. I think Mercedes and Red Bull still have an advantage over us, and it will be very tricky fighting against them for pole position and victory.
“So it was a little hard to swallow at the weekend because you don’t know when the next chance will come.”
Need opportunities to counterattack
Ferrari sporting director Laurent Mekies agrees with Sainz and doesn’t expect them to repeat a Monaco feat. But he also claims that it allows them to “counter-attack”.
“This is the start of a difficult part of the season for us,” Mekies said via the Italian branch of Motorsport.com. “If in Spain the SF21 was clearly the third strongest force in the field and Monaco it even showed the potential to win, the situation should be different in the next few races, starting with Baku.
“Already this weekend, we expect a firm McLaren, which should adapt very well to the characteristics of the circuit and then take the lead of the group behind the two teams fighting for the World Championship.”
“We also believe that Alpine, AlphaTauri and Aston Martin will be very competitive. The main objective on our side will be to express all the potential available and try to make the most of every opportunity. To use a footballing metaphor, we’ll try to play good defence and hit back.”
