Despite the stunning performance Scuderia Ferrari managed to achieve in the third round of the 2024 Formula 1 championship, at the 5.278-kilometre Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, the Italian side still faces a challenge in keeping pace with Red Bull until it introduces its first major Formula 1 upgrade, according to Carlos Sainz.
While Ferrari was not able to challenge the Austrian side in qualifying for the Bahrain, Jedda and Melbourne events, finishing within two tenths of three-time world champion Max Verstappen this season, the Maranello team showed promise with a strong one-two finish at the Australian Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz leading teammate Charles Leclerc and the McLaren cars. Both Red Bull cars dominated the first two rounds, as Max Verstappen was leading in Melbourne from pole position when he encountered braking issues early in the race, forcing him to retire. However, Sergio Perez couldn’t make up for it, finishing no higher than fifth place.
Carlos Sainz is now optimistic about Scuderia Ferrari’s performance but cautioned that the Maranello team will struggle to keep up with Red Bull until it brings a significant upgrade to close the performance gap, which will most likely be seen in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at the Imola circuit.
“Our car worked really well this weekend,” the Ferrari driver pointed out following his victory in Australia – “But it’s going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah. But around Australia, from lap one, it felt like a race-winning car. And even if Red Bull were also quick and were on pole, that [1min15.915sec pole lap time] in quali wasn’t out of reach for us. There will be tracks where we are strong like we saw last year. And this year it seems like our race pace is better even on those tracks that we are stronger. And together with a good development programme, I hope that we can challenge Red Bull more often.” – the Spaniard added.
A significant upgrade is scheduled for the Imola round in May, with only minor aerodynamic developments planned for the next race at the Suzuka circuit in Japan. However, the Maranello team is aiming to accelerate the process, potentially introducing everything as early as the Japanese Grand Prix. Although it’s uncertain how Ferrari’s performance at the Australian GP would have unfolded without Max Verstappen’s mechanical issue, the team’s drivers were buoyed by their long-run performance in the Melbourne practice sessions at the Albert Park circuit.
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The Spaniard even believes that he would have been able to challenge Max Verstappen for the race win in Australia based on the data collected by the Ferrari technicians:
“I felt like I could keep up with him on the first lap and try and take DRS, just to make sure that… DRS around here is super powerful,” he added, having completed lap 1 with a nine-tenth gap to the leader. Then he lost the car into Turn 3 and there was my chance to get close and attempt an overtake. And then as soon as he was behind, I think he started struggling with the brakes and that was it for him. A pity because we would have had, I think, a very good fight for P1 today. But, you know, I’m happy to take the win. He’s had plenty of them.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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