Saturday in Hungary ended with a disappointment for Carlos Sainz: The Ferrari driver missed out on qualifying for Q3 and only managed eleventh place on the grid for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The early end of the day was not entirely unexpected: “I’ve had a strange feeling with the medium tires for the whole weekend,” reveals Sainz.
“Every time I drove with these tires, for some reason we had a lot of trouble getting them to work in the first sector,” the Ferrari driver is at a loss. “It was even more difficult than with the hard tyre, so I knew Q2 was going to be a difficult session for us.” Because: According to the new tire rule, the drivers were obliged to drive with the medium tires in the second part of the qualification.
“We got through well in Q1, but as soon as I put the hard tire compound back on in Q2, I slipped a lot in the first sector and couldn’t do a decent lap,” said Sainz. “The lap wasn’t too bad, but I just lacked a bit of grip.” In the end, the Spaniard was just two thousandths of a second short of moving into Q3.
Formula 1: guesswork at Sainz
The Ferrari driver could only puzzle over the reasons for the tire problems. “We have to analyze that now,” muses Sainz. “It’s impossible to analyze during qualifying, but I’m sure we’ll find an explanation as to why it happened.”
Ferrari’s performance on the other tires wasn’t outstanding either. “But we were definitely more competitive on the soft or harder tires than on the medium compound,” said Sainz. Charles Leclerc achieved sixth place on the grid, which did not cause a storm of jubilation at Ferrari. “I think we’re not where we want to be yet.”
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us, especially because the field is being pushed together so quickly,” says Sainz, who is referring above all to the strong performance of McLaren and Alfa Romeo. “I don’t know if it’s the track or just the track characteristics.”
Sainz: “It was unfortunate!”
“If we don’t get the car set-up or the tire preparation right, we have to analyze it,” warns the Spaniard. “But we were on the limit with the middle compound all weekend and even with all the compounds we weren’t in the top four or top five. Like we should or like we’re used to.”
The new tire rule in qualifying caught Sainz off guard: “Of course it’s unfortunate that you have to use medium tires in Q2 this weekend, but that’s the way it is.” Now it’s a matter of collecting a few more points in the race, which Sainz says is definitely possible, because the tire problems occurred in qualifying “only on the first lap and in the first sector”.
Does the Spaniard still welcome the new regulation, which was tested for the first time in Hungary qualifying? “I think it’s interesting for qualifying, but it’s very boring for the rest of the weekend,” says Sainz. “On Friday you spend more time in the garage than on the track and with the fans because we don’t have tires.”
“Today I paid the price for it”
“So why bother holding two one-hour practice sessions when you don’t have tires to drive?” Sainz asks critically. The Ferrari driver demands changes for the future in order to improve the excitement for the spectators as well. In doing so, he also questions whether the new regulation really makes sense.
“I think that’s what comes of trying to spice things up. I paid the price today,” said the Spaniard. “I don’t think Formula 1 really has to do that. But if they want to make things a little more exciting, then they should do that. That’s why I’m not complaining about qualifying, but rather about free practice.”
However, the new qualifying rule also has to do with sustainability, because fewer tires should be used overall. “But at the same time there are four sets of intermediates and three sets of rain tires that we sometimes don’t even touch all weekend,” Sainz recalls.
“These are seven tires for 20 teams, so there are other things to consider,” warns the Ferrari driver. “If you want the cars to drive for the fans, you have to take that into account as well.”