Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) Ferrari. 25.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Qualifying Day
Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari’s defeat to Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship in Abu Dhabi painted a “fair” reflection of the teams’ respective form in 2023.
Having slumped to a Q1 exit in qualifying, Sainz was unable to recover from 16th on the grid prior to Ferrari retiring his car with a power unit issue on the penultimate lap.
Although team-mate Charles Leclerc secured second, George Russell’s third place and Lewis Hamilton’s climb to ninth ensured Mercedes pipped Ferrari by three points.
“Today, the last two weekends, this last weekend in general, haven’t gone like I expected or like we wanted to finish the year,” Sainz lamented. “Honestly very disappointed and obviously not happy.
“Given how close it was in the end with the Constructors’ Championship, we will have to sit down and analyse what we could have done better today and what was going on because clearly the pace this weekend and the overall feeling with the car and everything, the end wasn’t good.”
Ferrari elected to run Sainz on the Hard tyre with the aim of completing a one-stop strategy. But despite gaining three positions at the start, he struggled to make progress.
That prompted the team to pit him on Lap 23 for another set of Hards, which resulted in Sainz running an extended second stint in the hope of capitalising on a late Safety Car.
However, the race ran under green flag conditions to the end, leaving Sainz down in 14th once he had made his mandatory stop on Lap 56 before retiring only a lap later.
“We started on the Hard expecting the hard to help us do a one-stop,” Sainz explained. “Again, like we’ve seen many times this year, whenever we start on harder compounds with our car, we struggle a lot and it was again the same today.
“We had nothing to lose starting P16 and we gave it a go. But again, it didn’t work for us. The harder compound at the beginning of the race with the dirty air and the sliding just doesn’t work for us.
“And then once we saw that we had very little chance of scoring points, we left it out for a Safety Car and it didn’t work out. We had to retire in the end with a power unit issue. It’s not like it would have changed much.”
Carlos Sainz Jr (ESP) Ferrari SF-23 in the pits. 26.11.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 23, Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi, Race Day
Sainz reckons that Ferrari ending up shy of beating Mercedes to second in the standings was an accurate representation of how the entire season unfolded for both sides.
“I think it’s fair,” he assessed regarding the battle. “I think we’ve had our moments where we’ve been quicker. The Mercedes had their moments when they’ve been quicker. Overall, maybe a bit of reliability here and there. I think we’ve been the quicker car overall but they’ve been a bit more consistent than us.
“Anyway, I think it’s a season where the team has made a lot of progress. I think we’ve learned a lot from this car, from these tyres. We’ve finished the season a lot stronger than what we started. I need something we can bank on for next year, expecting hopefully a more competitive package.”
Meanwhile, Sainz dropped behind Fernando Alonso, team-mate Leclerc and Lando Norris to seventh in the Drivers’ Championship, his worst placing since joining Ferrari in 2021.
The 29-year-old, who bagged the only non-Red Bull victory of the year in Singapore, acknowledges that the last two rounds left a “dark patch” on a “decent year” for him.
“Yeah, I think it’s been a decent year for me,” Sainz said when asked about his own campaign. “I think we’ve had a more consistent year, we’ve shone a bit more.
“I’m not happy with these last two races, obviously, it puts a dark patch into my season, where I think we’ve had a much stronger season than what these last two years show. And the way that everything has gone wrong for me in these last two races has been quite dramatic in a way, but it’s what it is. Sometimes the years go like this.
“Normally the end of the season is my biggest strength, and this season for some reason hasn’t been the case. It’s time to sit down and analyze what I would have done better for the last three races and come back strong.”
Keyword: Sainz: Ferrari defeat to Mercedes ‘fair’ reflection of F1 2023