Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc used the first two free practice sessions of the British Grand Prix to determine the best package to use this weekend, whether it’s the latest updated one or if they need to take a step back.
A day of comparisons rather than a true preparation for tomorrow’s qualifying and Sunday’s race. Figuring out the best path to follow could make a difference not just this weekend but throughout the season, influencing new developments and the direction of future improvements.
Carlos Sainz confirmed the work done today by him and Leclerc. They used two different configurations, with Carlos using the older one, which seemed to yield better results on fast sections. And Silverstone is a track where high speeds are common, especially in its famous corners.
“We both worked on trying things to improve the car. Some things went in the right direction, others didn’t. But it’s Friday for everyone, and we’ll see how it goes tomorrow,” Sainz said at the end of the day.
Beyond the work done in the Maranello garage, Sainz confirmed the status quo in Formula 1 for the past three weeks: McLaren seems to have the best package, especially on the fast corners of Silverstone. Even if Ferrari finds a good compromise between the old and new solutions, they won’t be able to catch up to Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri’s MCL38s.
“McLaren seems to be one step ahead, as they’ve shown in the last two race weekends. McLaren is clearly one or two steps ahead of us. And it’s the same thing this weekend. We are trying to define the best package for our car, but McLaren is still faster than us,” Carlos Sainz concluded.
