Carlos Sainz outlines main difficulties in Jeddah qualifying amid 'big snappy moments'

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz outlines the main difficulties he encountered in the qualifying session for the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah circuit, as the Spaniard ended in P5, but will start from fourth place after the ten-place grid penalty received by his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz, difficulties behind the wheel of the Ferrari SF-23 in Jeddah
Carlos Sainz will start from fourth place in the 2023 Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix at the Jeddah Corniche circuit. A result that last week would have been predictable, considering Charles Leclerc’s speed on the flying lap and the supersonic speed of the two Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen. Despite the penalty which the Monegasque driver will have to take due to exceeding the maximum allocation of power unit components and the technical problems that stopped Max Verstappen, the Spaniard remained had to settle for a place outside the front row and appearing was in difficulty extracting performance from the SF-23 at the Jeddah Corniche circuit, half a second off his teammate.

Carlos Sainz’s comments
The Ferrari man is not looking for an alibi and rationally analyzes the difficulties he encountered in this qualifying session:

“I had a lot of problems in the first sector, and it will be something to analyze because I was losing 3-4 tenths. I was competitive and fast, but I lost too much in the first sector. We didn’t have a clean qualifying, so much so that I had to use an extra set of tires in Q2 which compromised Q3. It wasn’t entirely ideal, but the positive aspect is that the race will be tomorrow, and we will try to make a comeback.” – the Spaniard said in his post-qualifying interview for Sky Sport F1.

“It wasn’t the weekend we wanted in terms of progress, we’re further behind than we expected. It’s the first time we’ve arrived at this circuit with this car, and nobody knows where we are even in terms of asphalt, and it’s something we’ll have to analyze. Charles certainly managed to make good use of the car, while I’ll have to pay more attention to the first sector. I expect to be more competitive in the race and to be able to fight with Aston Martin and Mercedes. I think we have a good chance of being able to finish on the podium. It won’t be easy to be able to aim for victory, especially after seeing Perez’s race pace and previously that of Verstappen, but we’ll give it our all.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded at the end of the qualifying session in Jeddah.