Carlos Sainz blames the gearbox issue for a disappointing Brazilian GP result

Ferrari's gearbox not only troubled Leclerc into retirement but also ruined the Spaniard's race.

Carlos Sainz blames the gearbox issue for a disappointing Brazilian GP result

Carlos Sainz at Monza (Via IMAGO)

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz had to face his car’s faulty clutch all weekend, starting from FP1 on Friday. The Spaniard blamed the car’s clutch after his disappointing performance in the Brazilian GP. The issue he faced in the race resulted in him being stuck behind the Mercedes and the Aston Martins. Sainz even reported to his engineer to throw away this clutch when they got back to Maranello.

Even after a disappointing Sprint, where he was constantly being challenged by the AlphaTauri of Daniel Ricciardo, Sainz only managed to finish P8. In the Sunday Grand Prix, after his teammate Charles Leclerc crashed on the formation lap from P2, almost every driver on the grid gained a position, apart from Sainz, who lost one. He blamed the car’s left gear shift paddle, which is used for downshifting.

YouTube video

In an interview reported by Motorsport, Sainz said that said, the downshifting of the car caused him to break early into the first few corners, which led him to lose positions at both starts of the Grand Prix weekend. He added that he found this problem from the start of the season, but it wasn’t so troubling back then. Sainz believes this problem is also not important from the reliability point-of-view, but it needs to be discussed.

FS Video
The clutch worked badly, like in the Sprint and like in all the starts I made this weekend. I'm very disappointed because it cost us points throughout the weekend. We struggled a lot at the start, and it's a real shame. Let's hope it's just a problem with the component because we started very well throughout the season.

Carlos Sainz calls Red Bull and McLaren’s pace from another planet

After Sunday’s Grand Prix race at Interlagos, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz’s sixth-place finish didn’t spread enthusiasm or happiness in the team. Even after finishing two places higher than he started on the grid, he couldn’t get past the Astons and got passed by the Red Bull of Sergio Perez. He believes the Astons have also regained their pace from the start of the season.

Carlos Sainz (via Sky Sports F1)
McLaren and Red Bull are on another planet. Maybe with better starts, we could have fought with Stroll, but never we were near to challenge the Bulls and the Papaya team.

He blamed his clutch issue, which caused trouble in downshifting; otherwise, he could’ve had Stroll near the end of the race. Ferrari is currently chasing P2 in the Constructors Championship, trying to attack the Mercedes. Both teams are nearly equal in pace, so it would be interesting to see how the 20-point gap difference ends.

Discover more: