Carlos Sainz's season began with uncertainty surrounding his future. In fact, the Spaniard will contest his last 24 races with Ferrari before giving up his seat to Lewis Hamilton in 2025. Doing well in these first races of the season will be fundamental for the search for the next seat, and the SF-24 could be the right car to highlight the qualities of the Spanish driver. Or at least these are the feelings of Carlos Sainz who in the press conference expressed full confidence in the project led by Vasseur. So let's see Sainz's statements on the eve of the first race weekend of the 2024 season in Bahrain.
The SF-24 was born well, and there is optimism at Ferrari
After digesting the shock linked to the departure induced by the arrival of Lewis Hamilton, Sainz immediately catapulted himself onto 2024, focusing on the objectives of the season. In fact, the Spaniard is keen to leave the Maranello team with good memories, and perhaps with a few more victories on his list of successes. Last year he was the only one to "steal" a victory from Red Bull and Max Verstappen in Singapore. This year, however, the ambitions are higher, especially after the excellent data obtained in the three days of testing in Bahrain. The SF-24 appears to have solved most of the problems that plagued the SF-23, judged by both drivers to be too unpredictable, with a limited window of use and excessive tire wear.
During these three days of testing, the two Ferrari squires, in addition to having set the fastest laps, also stood out in terms of the pace of the race. Terrain where Ferrari has suffered most in recent years. In addition there were no reliability problems in the kilometers travelled.
Despite this, however, the performance of the competition must still be taken into account. In fact, it is said that Red Bull saved a few cartridges for the race, and did not give 100%, but this could concern all 10 teams, including Ferrari. It is clear that making predictions now is still completely risky. AND Sainz himself did not go too far in his statements in the press conference in Bahrain declaring that Ferrari completed the work planned during the tests, understanding the car well.
“We are preparing for the season, winters are getting shorter and shorter and testing is getting shorter and shorter. I don't think I lost the rhythm, we had a good test and understood the car well and managed to complete the work program so I feel ready for the first race."
And about the future?
Although he still has no certainties about the future, Sainz still wants to aspire to the dream of winning a world title. “I don't know yet where I will go in the future, I want to give my best this season in this fantastic team. For the rest, I need time to understand the best project for me in the medium to long term and try to become champion.".
Source statements: sky sports f1
