“It is quite difficult to recover,”Fred Vasseur gives his verdict on Carlos Sainz’s struggles at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Scuderia Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur gave his opinion on Carlos Sainz’s tough stint at Baku last weekend.

“It is quite difficult to recover,”Fred Vasseur gives his verdict on Carlos Sainz’s struggles at the 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Fred Vasseur and Carlos Sainz

Fred Vasseur has been leading Scuderia Ferrari ever since the start of the 2023 F1 season. The result on the other hand hasn’t been very impressive when compared to the start they had last year. While Ferrari had a bit of luck this weekend, it wasn’t really enough to solidify their championship charge. A new format was incorporated into the weekend to make it more exciting.

While teammate Charles Leclerc managed to finish P3 to give Ferrari their first podium of the season, Carlos Sainz had a bit of a struggle. The Spaniard finished fifth in both the Sprint race and the main race that took place on Sunday. It was a weekend where Carlos struggled with confidence in the car following his spin at the first turn during Q1.

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Carlos Sainz had gotten 4th place in Qualifying on Friday. However, his teammate Charles Leclerc stole the show as he put his Ferrari on pole position. Meanwhile Carlos was 8 tenths off his teammate. Nevertheless, Fred Vasseur was happy with the result that both his drivers achieved. However, the team boss was adamant that he wasn’t a big fan of the new format.

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Related: Aston Martin urges F1 to ‘keep its DNA’ amidst radical Baku race weekend changes

Fred Vasseur defends Carlos Sainz’s actions during the 2023 Azerbaijan GP

Fred Vasseur
Fred Vasseur

In an interview, here is what the Ferrari team principal had to say. “Yeah, Carlos had a bit of confidence lacking this weekend from the beginning of the weekend, but I think it also came from the fact that he lost the car at lap 1, turn 1 in Q1 and he had to use a second set. It put him on the back foot of the quali, [because] he had just one set at the end of the quali,” he said.

“Now the lack of confidence came from the beginning. With this format, I think it is quite difficult to recover, because when you have FP1, FP2, FP3 drivers are able to build up the pace over the weekend. And with this weekend, if you don’t start with the right pace, you are a bit lost,” he continued . “But I think I am more than happy with the job done by Carlos this weekend, because even in this situation he is able to finish P5, to recover, and he had a decent pace in the race,” he stated.

Ferrari has been a bit on the back foot this season while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have been on a charge. Fred Vasseur has revealed that the team has an update package planned for the 2023 Miami GP. It will be a start of Ferrari’s extensive upgrade programme aimed at clearing the gap to Red Bull. Who do you think will emerge victorious at the 2023 Miami GP?

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