Sainz qualified fifth and teammate Charles Leclerc seventh as the Ferraris struggled to get their tires warm during a rainy end to Friday’s sprint qualifying.
Leclerc left when it started to rain, bending his steering rack, which Sainz admitted could have happened to him too.
“With the intermediate tires, we waited a long time at the pit lane exit, they cooled down, and then Charles and I struggled a lot on that lap to warm up the tires,” Sainz explained. “I’m lucky I didn’t suffer the same thing [spin].
“We couldn’t do a good SQ3, but I think I saved the day with a fifth place. It’s a very difficult track to access and you can almost go straight to qualifying.”
But with limited practice time upon F1’s return to Shanghai, Sainz said he couldn’t tune his SF24 to his liking in the dry either.
This dampened his expectations for Saturday morning’s sprint, which is expected to be dry, but on the plus side, the new parc ferme rules allow teams to work on their cars again ahead of Grand Prix qualifying later.
“The sprint race takes place in the morning, then the parc ferme opens and we can change cars,” he added. “I would like to be able to make some adjustments to the car after the sprint race, because I don’t feel comfortable.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“I have some ideas to improve the car for qualifying. In the sprint we will have to survive with what we have and fight from fifth place.”
Team principal Fred Vasseur hopes the team’s tire gamble in free practice will pay off in the sprint race.
“We were the only ones who left an extra set of medium and hard tires this morning,” he told Sky Sports Italy.
“We have the advantage of still having a set of new medium tires for tomorrow, while our rivals will have to use a set of second-hand medium tires. This means that we will have a wider choice in terms of tires for tomorrow .”
“But like everyone else, we are a little blind. It’s not an easy choice, we only did a few laps this morning. We will have to choose the compound carefully this evening, because we have to consider that it could be a departure. point for Sunday.”
Explaining his exit, Leclerc added: “It was very difficult to put the tires on, I tried to be a little aggressive, but obviously I lost the lead coming out of turn 8.
“It compromised our qualifications a bit because the steering was a bit crooked. But overall I don’t think there were any miracles. There wasn’t much more we could have done.”
Sainz qualified fifth and teammate Charles Leclerc seventh as the Ferraris struggled to get their tires warm during a rainy end to Friday’s sprint qualifying.
Leclerc left when it started to rain, bending his steering rack, which Sainz admitted could have happened to him too.
“With the intermediate tires, we waited a long time at the pit lane exit, they cooled down, and then Charles and I struggled a lot on that lap to warm up the tires,” Sainz explained. “I’m lucky I didn’t suffer the same thing [spin].
“We couldn’t do a good SQ3, but I think I saved the day with a fifth place. It’s a very difficult track to access and you can almost go straight to qualifying.”
But with limited practice time upon F1’s return to Shanghai, Sainz said he couldn’t tune his SF24 to his liking in the dry either.
This dampened his expectations for Saturday morning’s sprint, which is expected to be dry, but on the plus side, the new parc ferme rules allow teams to work on their cars again ahead of Grand Prix qualifying later.
“The sprint race takes place in the morning, then the parc ferme opens and we can change cars,” he added. “I would like to be able to make some adjustments to the car after the sprint race, because I don’t feel comfortable.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“I have some ideas to improve the car for qualifying. In the sprint we will have to survive with what we have and fight from fifth place.”
Team principal Fred Vasseur hopes the team’s tire gamble in free practice will pay off in the sprint race.
“We were the only ones who left an extra set of medium and hard tires this morning,” he told Sky Sports Italy.
“We have the advantage of still having a set of new medium tires for tomorrow, while our rivals will have to use a set of second-hand medium tires. This means that we will have a wider choice in terms of tires for tomorrow .”
“But like everyone else, we are a little blind. It’s not an easy choice, we only did a few laps this morning. We will have to choose the compound carefully this evening, because we have to consider that it could be a departure. point for Sunday.”
Explaining his exit, Leclerc added: “It was very difficult to put the tires on, I tried to be a little aggressive, but obviously I lost the lead coming out of turn 8.
“It compromised our qualifications a bit because the steering was a bit crooked. But overall I don’t think there were any miracles. There wasn’t much more we could have done.”