Fifth place and the additional bonus of the fastest lap in the race obtained by Carlos Sainz a Silverstone they cannot compensate for the difficulties and worries for Ferrari. Since Friday, the Maranello team has tried to exploit the characteristics of the Silverstone track to study the phenomenon of bouncing, a problem that returned with the debut of the second evolutionary package in Spain, after a rather positive first part of the season. The results of the comparative tests between Sainz and Leclerc led the team to give up the new package for this weekend, in the hope of bringing home a few more points by reducing the bouncing. Which partially worked. But this certainly cannot be the definitive solution as McLaren has already moved within a few points of the championship.
Sainz satisfied with the result at Silverstone
“I think we did our best. I'm satisfied with the race because, even though we weren't fast enough in dry or wet conditions, we got all the pitstop calls right, especially in the middle of the race when there were slicks in the wet, and I managed to gain the podium positions” Sainz said at the end of the match. While not hiding his regret for missing out on the podium again, Carlos Sainz said he was satisfied with the race weekend at Silverstone. The skill of Sainz and his team was that they got the right timing for the pit stops, taking advantage of the mixed track conditions to stay with the group in front. Something that was missing on the other side of the garage, with Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz did everything perfectly at Silverstone, even choosing the hard tires at the end, something that teams like McLaren and Mercedes did not foresee and which allowed the Spaniard to also take the time to mount the soft tires for the fastest lap. “To be honest, I had studied the weather conditions with my engineers, so I was confident, ahead of the race, that I could make the right choices today. We did some good laps in FP1 and FP2 to understand the various conditions and make sure we were ready. We had an excellent race. Honestly, all the calls were spot on, all the tires, all the radio calls". Even though he got his calls right, the gap with the riders in front prevented him from fighting for the podium.
What to do with the SF-24? Sainz: “The new things don't work”
Ferrari was able to see at Silverstone that the new package created more problems than solutions. Sainz also confirmed this, concerned that this took away not only performance but also precious time from the Maranello team. “It is clear that the performance of the car with the new updates is not good enough. We are practically back to the same car as Imola and since Imola everyone has made improvements, probably adding two tenths of performance, while we had to go back".
“We lost two or three months of development, in terms of improvements in wind tunnel performance or performance that we could have achieved in recent months. It is clear that we have not made the right decisions recently. But it seems to me that today we went back to the basics, to a car that is the same as the one we had in Imola and from here on we just have to improve. But it's clear that our rivals are a good step ahead of us."
In Hungary Ferrari hopes to be able to return to hopping less given the presence of slower corners which may highlight the phenomenon. But in view of the next events, Ferrari will necessarily have to find a solution which is more acceptable than driving with the Imola package. “For now, in the situation we find ourselves in, I trust that the team will make the right choices from circuit to circuit, until a more solid package arrives, which will not generate bounce at high speeds and which, at the same time, is good at low speeds. Then we will start thinking about fighting with the top three teams again.".
Source statements: Motorsport.com
