Carlos Sainz is proving to be problematic for Ferrari. Since Lewis Hamilton announced he was replacing the Spaniard, F1 observers alike up and down the paddock are looking to see how Carlos will respond to losing his Scuderia drive.

The results to date are embarrassing for Maranello bosses as Sainz has out qualified Charles Lelcerc at each Grand Prix this year and has finished ahead of his team mate in every race he started, including his win at the 2024 Australian GP. 

 

 

 

F1 Teams close in on Red Bull

Without his emergency operation to remove an appendix in Jeddah, Sainz would in all probability now be ahead of Leclerc and even the closest rival to Verstappen in the drivers’ title race.

Max Verstappen leads the championship at present with a 13 point lead over Checo. Sainz is a further nine points adrift but even with a DNF he’s just four behind Charles Leclerc. After four races last season, Max was 33 points ahead of the first non-Red Bull driver his lead this year is just 22 points.

There are signs on track the other teams are closing in on Red Bull Racing this year. Max’s pole advantage to the first non-Red Bull driver was cut by 0.2 seconds in Suzuka when compared to the last time F1 was here in September last year. Other qualifying sessions in Bahrain and Jeddah suggested over one lap pace the F1 pack is closing in on the world champions.

This is something Ferrari’s lead driver this year believes will continue for the foreseeable future though the trajectory which sees Ferrari on a par with Red Bull is still a couple of upgrades away.

More details emerge following McLaren shock exit

 

 

 

Ferrari target a ‘more consistent fight’

“I think they [Red Bull] are definitely going to have an advantage in the first third of the season until we bring one or two upgrades that makes us fight them more consistently,” said Sainz after the race in Japan.

“But by that time maybe it’s a bit too late with the advantage that they might have on the championship.”

Carlos reflects on his victory in Melbourne and how he and Ferrari capitalised on a rare Red Bull mechanical failure for Max Verstappen.

“In the meantime, we need more Australias! Which I don’t see Red Bull, as a team, making these mistakes very often, no.

Russell reveals shock issues at Mercedes

 

 

 

Monaco big Ferrari hope

“A shame, because also I missed a race, which for both the team and me, it could be costly in the championship. We’re competing in one race less, but at the same time, we’re going to give it our best shot.”

“It’s my last year in Ferrari also, so yeah, nothing to lose and we will try everything to make it back.’

If we extrapolate Carlos timetable then Ferrari could be matching Red Bull come race eight of this year in Monaco. Ferrari have in recent years had a car with better traction through the low speed corners than the Red Bull and the principality will certainly test that characteristic of any F1 car.

Next time out is also an opportunity for Ferrari. Their recent car designs have done well on ‘front limited’ circuits. Shanghai is one of those where the limiting factor are the front tyres, particularly the front left in the seemingly never ending turn one.

Hamilton crucial of Mercedes Japan strategy

 

 

 

Verstappen criticises Shanghai schedule

Max Verstappen believes by making the Chinese Grand Prix a Sprint weekend, the F1 organisers have made a mistake. “I think it’s not great, let’s say it like that, to do that,” Verstappen told reporters after Sunday’s race at Suzuka.

“Because when you have been away from a track for quite a while, I think you never know what you’re going to experience, right? So it would have been better to have a normal race weekend there.”

Of course this is the same challenge for all the F1 teams and Max never misses an opportunity to have a pop at the sprint weekend formats. Despite his disdain for the Sprint, Max won four of the six last season with the win in Qatar seeing him over the line in the drivers’ championship. Max did also speak about the driver market and began by referencing Toto Wolff’s open offers for him to join Mercedes.

“Lately, Toto has been really nice, saying a lot of nice things about me!” the three -time champion joked. “No, I don’t know. It’s still a very long season. I don’t want to think about the rest of the season too much. I really want to approach it race by race.”

Marko issues another warning after mixed results in Japan

 

 

 

Qualifying more crucial this year

Verstappen also refers to the circuits where others will be stronger and bring the challenge to Red Bull throughout the weekend. 

“I know there will be tracks coming up that might not be so favourable for us, but then, of course, when we do get to tracks where we know that we can be quick, we have to really take advantage of it and score the maximum amount of points as a team, and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.

“And then, of course, I think we know that we get to tracks where maybe it’s a bit more difficult we have to try and maximise that as well, where maybe other teams can win as well.”

Ferrari have improved the tyre wear on this years SF-24 but the trade off appears to have cost them some one lap pace. As the field gets ever tighter in terms of qualifying, claiming a good starting position is ever more crucial as Charles Leclerc proved in Japan.

Leclerc was just P8 in Suzuka qualifying, but was a mere tenth slower than his team mate who started the Grand Prix from fourth. Charles drove a stella race, but his low starting position certainly cost him a shot at the bottom step of the podium – if not more.

Newey fuels exit rumours since Aston Martin bombshell offer

 

 

 

F1 DRIVER SIGNINGS “IN WEEKS” AS RED BULL REVEAL RECRUITMENT PLAN

Formula One in 2024 may be remembered for many things. There’s firstly the Red Bull civicl war which erupted in January and threatened to sever the world champions from their star driver. The conclusion to this matter could yet be a year away with the female employee from Milton Keynes now having opted for a employment tribunal which are famous for their delayed outcomes.

The battle between the FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and F1 supremo Stefano Domenicali entered its next round, as a complaint was made to the FIA ethics committee that Ben Sulayem had interfered with F1 race results. The FIA president was cleared…. READ MORE