How Sainz defeated F1’s new driving curse

In Portugal on Saturday, the new Ferrari driver showed he is a quick learner by overtaking teammate Charles Leclerc in the third quarter and finishing fifth on the grid.

It’s just one example of one, and it happened on a track where wind and a difficult surface made it kind of a lottery, and on a day that Leclerc willingly admitted he wasn’t at his best in the third quarter.

Leclerc was also decisive and not Sainz, who managed to get out of the second quarter with medium-heavy tires and thus has the advantage for the race on Sunday.

Even so, it was extremely encouraging for Sainz to continue his personal learning curve.

His post-qualifying behavior contrasted somewhat with that of the man who replaced him at McLaren, Daniel Ricciardo, who didn’t even get out of the first quarter.

The new team fights may have surprised many observers, but we forget how complex these cars are to drive and what it takes to push them to their limits.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari in the press conference

Photo by: FIA Pool

On Thursday in Portugal, Sainz gave a fascinating glimpse of how he’s trying to get closer to that frontier.

“I’m still far,” he admitted. “But that doesn’t mean that you can’t put together a really good weekend. If, for whatever reason, I feel the car underneath this weekend very well and I like the track, I can still put together a strong weekend.

“It’s just how you can consistently put these weekends together like I did in my sophomore year at McLaren. That is the big difference. In the third or fourth race with McLaren, I kind of felt there or something.

Sainz was competitive from the start in Portimao. He was fourth on Friday and seventh on Saturday morning, just ahead of Leclerc

“But then, in 2020, my sophomore year, I realized that I can do it much more consistently and much better just because of my muscle memory. I knew exactly what the car was going to do each and every weekend and I repeated the routes with the same car. It’s just easier.

“That doesn’t mean I can’t get there early enough, and in every session I push myself to try new things and change my driving style to adapt. This challenge is quite difficult mentally and difficult as a driver. But it’s also fun because you are always discovering new things. “

After qualifying in a frustrated eleventh at Imola, Sainz insisted he be as quick as Leclerc everywhere, but he just hadn’t merged a lap. It’s easy to be cynical when a driver says that, but he hasn’t been talking nonsense.

Sainz was competitive from the start in Portimao. He was fourth on Friday and seventh on Saturday morning, just ahead of Leclerc.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Fifth place in the first quarter was promising, the second quarter was quite a struggle as he had to switch from media to softs, and when it came down to it in the third quarter, he finished fifth behind the four Mercedes and Red Bull cars. He reached his goal and put a full lap together.

“I did it today and the most important thing is that I did it twice in difficult conditions,” he told Autosport.

“Today it was very, very difficult in the last sector. You can’t imagine how unpredictable the cars are and how difficult they are to drive. And the fact that I did a couple of good laps in the third quarter makes me feel good.

F1 isn’t just about beating your teammate, it’s always good to set a marker at the start of your career with a new team

“We have made some good progress with my driving style. I tried to drive a little differently this weekend. I also tried different things in the setup that I rode back and forth and it made me feel better and feel like I was making progress. But there is definitely still something to discover. “

In addition to the driving style, he experiments with the setup and finds out what works and what doesn’t with the Ferrari.

F1 isn’t just about beating your teammate, it’s always good to set a marker at the start of your career with a new team.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images

Perhaps flattered by Leclerc’s poor performance, Sainz would be the first to admit his learning is far from over, and he hasn’t suddenly revealed the secret. His team agrees with this assessment.

“No, it’s not a miracle cure,” said Ferrari sports director Laurent Mekies. “It’s just hard work after hard work after hard work. And hundredths of a second of the lap time that goes by as you build the relationship.

“And that’s it. So it has nothing to do with miracle cures. It’s just the hard work he’s done now. It was very difficult with the wind and tires and he and his team did a very good job of getting there. Charles was a little less comfortable with the soft tires. But overall we split up both cars for tomorrow, so it’s not that bad. “

Also read:

Ferrari has one car that starts on softs and one on the media. It wasn’t planned that way, but it’ll be an interesting experiment for the team on a track that was busy in 2020.

“Unless it’s raining a bit, I don’t think the switch has much advantage over the medium,” said Sainz. “Actually, the medium felt really good today. I wish the medium could have made it into the second quarter, but I had intercourse with Kimi.

“I made a mistake and the first run with the medium wasn’t strong so we decided to play it safe and go through with the soft. But I wish we had that medium for tomorrow …”