Ferrari have a growing headache given their collapse in form since the 2024 Monaco Grand Prix where Charles Leclerc scored his maiden home win and team mate Carlos Sainz collected the third place trophy in the principality. 

Over the four races since the champagne outside the Automobile Club of Monaco, Mercedes have scored 125 points,McLaren 111, Red Bull 97 but Ferrari have just 50 points. Carlos Sainz in the meantime has closed the gap to his team mate to just 4 points and again at the British Grand Prix it was the Spaniard who made the right call on tyre choice, while Leclerc got it spectacularly wrong.

 

 

 

Ferrari return to imola spec car

Upgrades brought by the Scuderia to Barcelona have failed and the plague of bouncing has returned to the SF-24 so much so that Sainz in Silverstone insisted on returning to the pre-Spanish Grand Prix package while Leclerc soldiered on with the supposed upgrades, until relenting for FP3.

At the British Grand Prix the infamous weather which plagues the Northern European Island played a major part in the final result which saw Lewis Hamilton finally end his drought of 56 races to claim victory. Yet as the rains were expected, Leclerc made a hasty decision to switch to the intermediate tyre while his team mate chose the perfect time to change his rubber, taking two seconds out of Lewis Hamilton on a single lap.

Analysis of the radio messages show that Sainz’s engineer was giving him regular and detailed information on how heavy the rain would be and at which parts of the circuit. Leclerc had far less information from Bryan Bozzi, who replaced Leclerc’s long time engineer Xavier Marcos Padros earlier this season.

Since Ferrari announced they were dropping Sainz in favour of Lewis Hamilton for 2024, the Spaniard has looked the more consistent of the driver pairing from Maranello. Carlos managed to haul his Ferrari into fifth place while Leclerc could manage just P14, finishing outside the points along with Sergio Perez and George Russell who stopped with cooling issues.

FIA face heavy criticism from across the paddock

 

 

 

Sainz predicts bleak Ferrari future

Without the constraints of having to tow the party line, Carlos Sainz was frank in his opinion of the world Ferrari have been doing lately, “its clearly not good enough,” he told assembled media. “We have basically the same car as in Imola and since Imola everyone has upgraded, probably added two-tenths to the car and we have had to revert.

The Spaniard conceded the team needs to go “back to basics” in an attempt to close the gap Ferrari’s rivals have extended in performance. For fans of Ferrari, Carlos’ candid assessment of the state of the F1 team does not make good reading for the coming races.

“We will bounce in Turns 4 and 11 [in Hungary], but until something better comes we may have to live with bouncing for a while,” he explained. “In high-speed tracks we might have to run the floor of this [older] package because if not, the other one is undriveable.”

The hopes for the tifosi rest on the team making the right setup calls using the Imola specification car and Sainz believes they will struggle until “a more solid package, which is not bouncing in high-speed and good in low-speed, arrives and then we will start thinking about battling the top three teams again.”

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Mercedes restart talks with Sainz

Meanwhile Carlos Sainz future is again the topic for feverous debate amongst the paddock glitterati. Having been close to announcing he will race at Williams, the Spaniard stepped back from the brink following an approach from Flavio Briatore, recently appointed as a consultant to Alpine.

Yet it is a team which withdrew from negations with Carlos earlier this year, which is now suggested to be favourite to capture the Spaniard’s signature for 2025. Sainz had been linked with Mercedes as a straight swap for the outgoing Lewis Hamilton, but no decision could be made given team boss Toto Wolff wanted to asses the progress of Mercedes academy driver Kimi Antonelli, who was beginning his rookie season in F2.

formulapassion.it reported Toto as saying: “We had talks with Carlos Sainz, going so far as to talk about the conditions of a possible agreement. But we came to the decision that we would not confirm our choice until the autumn.”

In an effort to be fair to Carlos, Toto withdrew from negotiations and suggested Sainz focus on other teams who were keen to procure his signature. Now the Austrian boss of Mercedes admits Sainz may again be an option for 2025.

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Red Bull still a possibility

Speaking to Mundo Deportivo Wolff now reveals he believes Sainz is “sure value, especially in a very tight championship.” Toto makes it explicit that the Spaniard is “still an option.”

Ex-F1 racer and German expert F1 commentator Ralph Schumacher now believes Sainz will find himself at Mercedes next season. “People thought he would definitely be at Williams, but it seems he’s not there anymore. At Alpine, perhaps.

“But he suddenly has a great chance at Mercedes because Toto says a few things have changed again. That’s why I almost see him alongside George Russell.”

Williams have tired of waiting on Carlos Sainz and it appears their new target is the return of their former driver Valtteri Bottas. The team boss James Vowles named Sainz as “Williams number one choice” in Canada preparing media statements which would confirm an agreement had been made.

Yet now Vowles has changed his tune stating in Silverstone that he and the team now have a plan B. The options remaining for Carlos are Mercedes, Sauber/Audi, Williams and potentially Red Bull, should Christian Horner finally wake up and smell the roses, which Sergio is swiftly poisoning.

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Huge admission by Horner over Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton’s recent triumph at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone was a significant moment, not just for the passionate English fans, but for the entire Formula 1 community. Marking his first Grand Prix win since Saudi Arabia in 2021, Hamilton’s performance was particularly noteworthy.

One individual who has historically been critical of Hamilton, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, has now expressed admiration for the Mercedes driver…. READ MORE