Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz admitted to being frustrated for not competing against Red Bull and Mercedes for pole position in the qualifying session at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, as the Spaniard finished a rather disappointing P5, several tenths off the pace as compared to the Maranello team’s main rivals.
In Q2, Carlos Sainz seemed able to match the pace of the W13 and RB18, with lap times close to those set by Max Verstappen and the Mercedes drivers. Unfortunately, the F1-75 car proved unable to improve its pace in the final part of qualifying, as both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc fell adrift of Max Verstappen’s best lap time in Mexico City.
In an interview after the qualifying session for the Mexican Grand Prix, the Spaniard pointed out that the performance gap was in fact related to the characteristics of the Hermanos Rodríguez Circuit.
“There was probably a bit more [time to gain] out there, but the car has been difficult to drive,” Carlos Sainz explained – “Normally when it’s difficult [to drive], it’s difficult to put laps together like we did in Austin. Today, there’s probably a couple of tenths [more] in the bag, but for how difficult it was, I think I was extracting quite a lot from it out there. We just need to have a look, I think we’ve lost quite a bit of performance in high altitude, we need to see because I think it’s just a one off. I think it’s a track that hasn’t suited us very well.” – the Spaniard added.
Carlos Sainz’s Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc had even more difficulties due to DRS issues and a power unit issue in the last fast run of qualifying at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, as the Monegasque driver will have to recover in the race, following his P7 result on Saturday: Charles will even start the Mexico City Grand Prix behind Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas.
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After confirming the engine-related issues on his F1-75 challenger, Charles Leclerc was asked about the high-altitude nature of the circuit and the impact on Scuderia Ferrari’s performance this weekend. The Monegasque did not want to directly blame the high altitude, but when the same question was put to Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard felt the poor pace was in fact due to the tyre problems and venue location:
“It’s a good question. With altitude, it shouldn’t affect us in terms of cornering speed. So, my guess is maybe something is going on with the tyres? I think the altitude for this engine it’s not going exactly how we wanted. We knew before coming here that we were going to need to take some compromises. Then the tyres on the car, over kerbs and some bumps, was just difficult.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
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