Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz’s Belgian GP Sprint race ended with a fourth-place finish at the 7.004-kilometre Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps in Stavelot, leaving more than a bitter smile, as he believes the Maranello team missed the opportunity to conquer the podium of the sprint race due to a mishandling in the hectic moments of the pit stop.
After completing five laps behind the safety car to understand and improve the track conditions, half of the grid immediately returned to the pits to switch to intermediates, including the Ferrari driver himself, who re-entered second, right behind Oscar Piastri.
However, while the McLaren driver was able to make his pit stop immediately without waiting for any rivals, also benefiting from a more advanced position in the pit lane, the same cannot be said for the Ferrari driver. Carlos Sainz had to wait for the passage of Ricciardo, Albon, Stroll, Bottas, and Hulkenberg, with Ferrari being very cautious in releasing him, especially compared to what Alpine and Mercedes did.
It is precisely on this last point that Carlos Sainz focused his attention, as he cannot understand how he could lose positions to Sergio Perez, Lewis Hamilton, and Pierre Gasly, who were initially behind him: “Clearly, we did something wrong if Perez, Hamilton, and Gasly overtook us. We need to take a look because it cost us the podium in today’s sprint. The pace wasn’t bad, actually.” – the Ferrari man pointed out in his interview at the end of the Spa-Francorchamps Sprint race.
Carlos Sainz did not question the timing of the call, which he considered correct, as the track was already suitable for intermediates. However, he is not satisfied with the excessive caution shown by the Ferrari team. The Spanish driver did not deny that the position of the pit box may have influenced the outcome, but he also emphasized how the other drivers near him, like Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton, managed to pass him, indicating that something did not work well on the Maranello team’s side:
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“The call was right, to come in on the first lap. Oscar Piastri came out in the first position, and I stopped just behind him, but I came out in seventh position, so clearly, something did not work well on our side.”
“I lost a lot of time, we need to see, because it is not possible for the car in front of me to go into the first position, and I end up in seventh.” – he concluded.
After losing positions to his rivals who were previously behind him, Carlos Sainz managed to recover a position on Sergio Perez, who had a damaged car due to a collision with Lewis Hamilton, thereby climbing back to fifth place. That incident later resulted in a penalty for the British driver of Mercedes, allowing the Spanish driver to gain another position at the finish line, securing the fourth-place finish ahead of his teammate.
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