It’s not a brilliant Ferrari on the Spielberg circuit, at least in the “Sprint” portion of the weekend. The drivers of the Maranello team are not satisfied with the SF-24 car’s balance and emphasized this in concerned post-Austrian sprint interviews.
During Friday’s qualifying shootout, the SF-24 had shown little improvement in transitioning from medium to soft tires. The work needed to increase performance on the dry lap is compounded by the task of managing the brakes.
Carlos Sainz spoke to Sky Sport microphones after the Austrian Grand Prix Sprint Race, where he finished in fifth place. The Ferrari driver, aggressive at the start, had to deal with overheating brakes that significantly affected his race. Despite the difficulties, the Spaniard managed to keep Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes behind him and, once at the interview ring, he explained that he doesn’t know the reason for this issue and shared his thoughts on the fierce competition on track. Here are some of his most important statements.
Carlos Sainz comments on the Austrian GP Sprint Race: statements from the Spaniard
Carlos Sainz expected a different weekend compared to Spain, but Ferrari is facing new challenges. The Spaniard commented on his Sprint Race: “Yes, brake problems, same as Charles with the brake situation. The first part was very hot, I had to lift off the accelerator to cool them down. We don’t know why this problem occurred. Here there’s a lot of slipstream because we’re at altitude, and the brakes heat up a lot. Mercedes today had more straight-line speed, and from there on I tried to stay with him (George Russell, editor’s note), but he had more.”
Finally, the Spaniard acknowledged that Mercedes had an advantage in straight-line speed, making it difficult to keep up: “I kept Hamilton behind, it wasn’t easy.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
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