Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz and the Maranello team bounced back with a strong performance last weekend in the Styrian Grand Prix, and despite the fact that Red Bull Ring will host a second race this weekend, it’s not a given that Ferrari will be able to show the same impressive race pace: Carlos is aware that the softer Pirelli tyres could case problems for the Italian side, just like two weeks ago at the Paul Ricard circuit.
Scuderia Ferrari was unable to score points in the 2021 French Grand Prix due to severe tyre degradation which made it impossible for Charles and Carlos to fight the midfield group. Things went a lot better for the Maranello team in the Styrian Grand Prix, but now Pirelli brings softer tyres for the second race in Austria, as Sainz Carlos points to the possibility of tyre issues for Ferrari:
“At the moment, the softer we go the more exposed we are with our front tyre troubles that we normally have. We know we have this issue at pretty much every circuit, it’s just that some circuits we don’t quite feel it and at others it’s very obvious like Paul Ricard or Portimao. The softer we go, the higher the risk for us of suffering. At the same time, we’re still going to do our homework on Friday to try and learn from the compounds, along with these new rear construction that is coming from Pirelli. As you can imagine, it’s a very high priority in our test items to understand the tyres.” – Carlos explained, ahead of the next race.
Looking back at the first event in Austria, the Spanish driver was pleased with the upturn in Ferrari’s form as the Maranello team have been hard at work trying to resolve their tyre woes. However the Spaniard believes the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring also played a majore role:
“It was great news for us for sure because we had a massive performance swing in the race between Paul Ricard and Austria. We’ve been working very hard at it, but I do think it’s also related to track characteristics. In Austria you suffer a lot more with the rear than with the front, and we know our main limitation right now is the front. At the same time on Friday, we focused a lot of our efforts in trying to set up the car for long run pace, trying to learn a lot about the tyres doing extremely long runs on on the softer compounds. It looked like it also helped us to arrive, certainly a bit more prepared to the race and with clear ideas of what to do, what not to do, and, and all that.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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