It is 4:12 in the qualifying duel between the two Ferrari drivers from Carlos Sainz’s point of view, but Sainz sees a clear upward trend. In the most recent “five, six, seven Grands Prix” he came much closer to Charles Leclerc and had better qualifying overall.
The statistics for the 2022 Formula 1 season confirm his impression: In Montreal, for example, Sainz was faster on a flying lap for the first time this year, defeated his Ferrari team-mate three more times in the seven other races and was indeed closer: Where in the first phase of the season sometimes more than four tenths were missing, since Montreal it has been a good two and a half at most.
So what has changed at Sainz? On the one hand, he made “progress” on the car because he worked consistently with his engineers on the Ferrari F1-75 in order to adapt it even better to himself. On the other hand, “we brought my driving style closer to that of Charles,” says Sainz.
The results would have convinced him: “This is how we push the car to the limit and it works well. I feel much more comfortable with it. And now I want to end the season on a good level in order to put myself in a good starting position for the next few years .”
New defeat against Leclerc in Monza
In qualifying in Monza, however, there was another defeat in the team duel because Sainz had a “not so clean” warm-up lap, as he explains.
“I couldn’t find a good slipstream and had to slow down before the last corner to see if Lando [Norris] drive past me and give me a slipstream. But he was clever enough not to do exactly that. It’s a shame, I had to do my lap without a slipstream, that always costs you something in Monza.”
The lap itself was good, “at the limit” even, as Sainz emphasizes: “Everything I lost on the straights I had to get back in the corners. Nevertheless, I improved because I was under so much pressure in the corners It’s just a shame that I didn’t have a slipstream to be considered for pole.”
Ferrari better positioned than last
But Sainz wouldn’t have gotten pole position anyway: He’s one of the drivers who are put back on the grid because they use superfluous drive components.
Irrespective of this, Ferrari presented itself “much better than in Spa” in Monza, says Sainz. Reason: “The balance is better. The work of the past few weeks is paying off, after the last two races may not have gone according to plan.”
“That doesn’t mean that we will be much more competitive on Sunday, but at least on Saturday we were P1 and P3 without expecting it. I’m happy with that.”
What Sainz can still achieve in the Italian Grand Prix
The question remains as to what Sainz can achieve from 18th on the grid. “I don’t know,” says the Ferrari driver frankly.
“Of course I’ll put the pressure on right from the start, I want to make up as many positions as possible right at the start and quickly move up to the front group. Because if there’s a safety car phase, for example, then anything can happen in Monza.”
He expects an overall “hectic race” with “many duels”, “especially in the first 20 laps” because so many fast cars were penalized.
If he manages to make it into the top 5 in the end, that would be “a good result,” he says. “But if you consider how fast the Mercedes were recently, it could be difficult.”