Carlos Sainz and his engineers have come up with some interesting theories on closing the gap with his teammate Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari has come out at the top following the new technical regulations and taking 1-2 in the first race of the season. However, Carlos Sainz feels that he has not yet gotten as comfortable with the new machinery as his teammate.
Sainz says that a lot of work has been done since the weekend in Bahrain to understand what Charles Leclerc is doing differently with his car. The Spanish driver thinks that the improvement can be made with a better set-up on his side of the garage.
Therefore, ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP, his engineers have planned some important experiments for Friday practice.
The 27-year-old explained that despite having a lack of understanding with the car he was able to fight for the pole in Bahrain qualifying and that is good news. However, he admitted that he still needs to work on it.
“But the fact is that I still need to work on the set-up. I need to work on car understanding,” he said.
“I’ve done my analysis in these three days with my guys and we have a couple of very interesting theories. So we have a couple of very interesting things to try here.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be a matter of one race. But a bit like it was last year, little by little, chip away at it and get there. We also need more samples.”
“I don’t know if Bahrain was a bit of a one-off, and all of a sudden here I’m back to where I should be where I expect myself to be. Let’s see, it’s still early days,” he further added.
Carlos Sainz has no explanation why he was not at the top
The season kickstarted with Charles Leclerc taking the pole position in Bahrain on Sunday and Carlos Sainz finishing P2. There was also a surprise podium for Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as both the Red Bulls retired from the race.
Talking about his second position, Sainz said that he has no simple explanation for it. He reckons that he may never understand the full situation himself.
When asked the 27-year-old said, “it’s too specific and too technical to explain to the press.”
“There are things, like the feeling with the car. To know exactly what to do in each type of corner to extract the maximum and then put the car a little bit more to my liking.”
“So that I go more comfortable with it just like I did in the second half of 2021. I want to try to do that as soon as possible,” he added.
He explained that it is too technical to go into the details and it is not worth it. He believes that it is only worth him trying out the experiments.
“And if with the Bahrain car, I managed to be second, when I have the car to my liking, I am convinced that good times will come,” he concluded.
