F1 | Sprint Issue: Carlos Sainz admits Charles Leclerc’s dominance in a specific situation. Carlos Sainz admits Charles Leclerc's dominance in a specific situation amid F1 Sprint format.

Weekends with the “Sprint” format demand quicker adaptation to the car and track changes. Carlos Sainz is well aware of this, and after Austin, he revealed a situation in which the Spanish driver is still “chasing” his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc.

With only one free practice session before locking in the setups and entering the closed park, “Sprint” weekend formats require more meticulous work from everyone. Drivers are immediately challenged to understand the car rapidly, knowing that the setup chosen in FP1 will determine their qualifying, shootout, sprint race, and Grand Prix.

In the penultimate race of the season with this format – the last will be in Brazil – Carlos Sainz faced some difficulties. After the Austin weekend, the Spanish driver admitted that the Monegasque was superior in certain situations. The problems identified by the Spaniard are typical for him during sprint races. Indeed, looking at races organized in this manner, Carlos Sainz has consistently delivered slightly subpar performances compared to his Maranello teammate.

“The car bounces and jumps a lot here, and in these cases, Charles handles the situation better than me,” admitted the Spanish driver following the United States Grand Prix in Austin.

Carlos Sainz did not have a chance to find a better setup and improve his comfort with the car due to the limited free practice session. “This time, I didn’t have the time to change the setup to suit my preferences and arrive at the weekend feeling more comfortable with the car and improving performance,” said the former McLaren driver – “In Sprint weekends, this is the problem. You are essentially locked into the basic setup, and this year, the number of bumps surprised us. There were even more undulations than last year.”

However, Carlos Sainz did not make excuses and continued with honesty, saying, “I can’t handle the situation at high speeds.”

The situation is more critical in qualifying: “I don’t have much confidence, and I feel like I could lose the car at any moment. So I have to drive below the limit. This is never ideal in qualifying, where I have to recover. In the race, I have to continue doing a good job; my pace is solid there.” – the Ferrari man concluded.

Source: f1ingenerale