Despite winning the Singapore GP with Ferrari’s SF-23, Carlos Sainz complains ‘the car is still not great’

Carlos Sainz voices concerns over his Ferrari despite the Singapore GP victory

Despite winning the Singapore GP with Ferrari’s SF-23, Carlos Sainz complains ‘the car is still not great’

Carlos Sainz (via imago)

Ferrari looked to have progressed a lot in the last two Grands Prix. The Italian Legends put up a stunning fight at Monza and actually beat the dominating Red Bulls in Singapore. Carlos Sainz took consecutive poles for Ferrari at the two Grands Prix and seemed to have stuck gold during the mid-season break.

The Spaniard however, has commented upon how Ferrari still have a long way to go in developing the car into a prominent challenger. Sainz commented [according to  pitdebrief.com]on his SF-23, saying “The car is still not great, in some areas very good in others. There are certain tracks like Monza and Singapore that the car has adapted very well, others like Zandvoort, Silverstone, that it was very difficult to drive.”

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Sainz pointed out how the SF-23 adapted well to Monza and the Marina Bay Street circuit but struggled at High-downforce tracks like Zandvoort and Silverstone. Ferrari will put effort into making their scarlet machine more consistent across the calendar. Their bid to be a consistent title challenger in 2024 seems to depend on this.

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Sainz’s ‘It’s on purpose radio call about giving Lando DRS was peak Formula 1

The closing laps of the Singapore GP made it seem as if it was a 4-way battle for the win. Carlos Sainz, having pitted only once, was wrestling to get the hard tires across the chequered flag. That’s when the Ferrari driver demanded his race engineer to notify him of the gap to Lando Norris on every lap.

Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris (via Planet F1)
Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris (via Planet F1)

It seemed as if Carlos was unaware of the charging Mercedes duo and was only concerned with gapping Norris’s McLaren. Sainz was updated alarmingly by Ferrari mid-lap to let him know that the gap to Lando had reduced to 0.8 seconds. Carlos smugly replied, “Yeah, It’s on purpose”.

This radio call confirmed that Carlos was never bothered about gapping Lando when he asked for his updates. Carlos Sainz was planning to bring Lando in his DRS range, allowing him to defend against the Mercedes duo. This, my fellow readers, was Formula 1 at its very best.

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