Coming on the back of two consecutive 1-2 finishes in Austin and Mexico City, Ferrari has been on the back foot in Sao Paulo from the get-go. With rain intensifying on Saturday and also Sunday, their Brazilian GP hasn’t gone to plan and Carlos Sainz’s weekend worsened further as he crashed out in the Grand Prix qualifying on Sunday morning.
It was the persistent rain that came back at Interlagos, plaguing Sainz’s qualifying laps in Q2. The Spaniard was on the intermediate tires when the rain started to increase. This led to the rear of Sainz‘s car stepping out at turn 2, leaving last weekend’s victor in the barriers and bringing out the red flag.
Sainz lost it going through the Senna “S”#F1 #BrazilGP pic.twitter.com/UDow7AWZm9
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 3, 2024
This has caused a lot of damage to Sainz’s car with Ferrari now having a steep task of repairing the car before the Grand Prix starts later today. At first glance, it seems like Sainz may have to take a new gearbox due to the damage to the rear of the car.
The four-time race winner will be starting the Brazilian GP from 14th, as it stands. Any changes to his car’s setup or parts under Parc Ferme could also instigate a grid penalty or a pit lane start.
Sainz would be ruing this crash as he was enjoying a purple patch of form in this American triple header. The P2 finish in the USA followed by his heroics in Mexico had put Ferrari back in contention for the constructors’ championship.
But in Brazil so far, the Italian outfit is in damage limitation mode and would look to maximize their result rather than looking to fight for the podium or the win.
Ferrari’s tricky Brazil weekend
The weekend has been an unusual setback for Ferrari, considering their strong form since the Italian GP. In both the sprint qualifying and sprint race, the Scuderia’s cars were slightly off the pace compared to McLaren. This deficit of one to one-and-a-half-tenths cost Ferrari the chance to contend for the sprint race win and outscore McLaren.
The Maranello outfit is chasing the Woking outfit in the constructors’ championship, but their deficit increased after the sprint race to 34 points. As things stand, it is a scrambled situation for Ferrari with Sainz starting from outside the top 10 and Charles Leclerc in sixth place.
What will give them solace is that only Lando Norris from the top contenders is at the front of the field, after taking pole in qualifying. Sainz would count on the mixed-up grid with several cars out of position including the Red Bulls, who had to bow out out of Q2 after a later red flag.
Amid a chaotic Q3 session, Oscar Piastri couldn’t improve on his lap time and will start from P8. So, Ferrari have a chance to get back in the fight against McLaren with inclement weather being a big equalizer for the race too.
