Scuderia Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was interviewed on the F1 Nation podcast and was asked to look back on the result and performance of the fifth round of the 2023 Formula 1 campaign, the Miami Grand Prix.
The Spanish driver had one of his best weekends on American soil, qualifying in third place on the grid and looking like he was in contention for a podium finish during the race. However, a five-second penalty and especially a drop in pace with the hard tires on his Ferrari SF-23 car prevented him from finishing any higher than fifth, even behind the Mercedes of George Russell.
Speaking to Tom Clarkson, the Ferrari driver said, “In Miami, I was back to having a normal feeling with the car and I felt comfortable, which showed that Baku was an outlier, the toughest weekend so far. I’m not happy with fifth place after having a podium position available to us: we tried the undercut to beat Fernando, the pace was good on the mediums, and I could have finished third. But when I put on the hards, I found traffic and dirty air, and the pace dropped. We’re back to reality: we’re not fast in the race, and we struggle with the hards on the long run.” – the Spaniard admitted.
Miami was one of many occasions when Carlos Sainz went head-to-head with Fernando Alonso. After being overtaken in Baku, the Ferrari driver engaged in several duels, but his car couldn’t compete with the Aston Martin. “I don’t like fighting with Alonso because it means I always have to look in my mirrors. We usually do better in qualifying, but in the race, the Aston Martin cars are more competitive and manage the tire better, so I always have to defend,” the Ferrari man said about his fellow Spaniard.
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After the interview, Pedro De La Rosa chimed in, praising the performance of the number 55 driver. “He did a good job because the car didn’t seem easy to drive. Especially when there’s wind, it loses downforce and becomes unstable, and it seemed like it hit the ground much more often than other cars, especially on the rear axle. Just look at how much Charles Leclerc was struggling. As for the penalty, he knew he was undercutting Fernando and he entered the pitlane like crazy. He was fighting for a podium, and in those conditions, sometimes you have to take risks, but it didn’t go well,” said the former driver following the Miami Grand Prix.
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