Formula 1 News: Carlos Sainz Jr. gets last laugh at Ferrari
(GMM) Carlos Sainz Jr. admits he is quite happy to be in a blue Williams F1 car rather than a red Ferrari one in 2025.
Ongoing Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc summed up the ever-more-dire situation at the Maranello based team on Saturday by repeating the words “My God” over and over on the radio.
He, like Lewis Hamilton, had failed even to make it into Q3 at the team’s home race.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur pointed at the tires. “It’s almost a copy-paste of what happened two weeks ago in Miami,” said the Frenchman.
“We weren’t able to improve with the new set of tires and we did the fastest lap with the first set of Q2. Why? If we knew, we would have already solved it.”
Leclerc couldn’t hide his frustration when asked about Vasseur’s words.
“You can change the tires but the car just doesn’t work,” said the visibly shaken Monegasque. “The potential isn’t there.”
One journalist asked Vasseur if Ferrari’s next upgrade package in Barcelona could be the turning point for the better. “If I say yes, then I’m stupid if you look at what we did today,” he said after qualifying.
Indeed, even Carlos Sainz Jr. – who was shunted into the Williams team after Ferrari replaced him with Hamilton – managed to out-qualify both red cars at Imola.
“I didn’t expect that at the start of the season,” the Spaniard beamed.
“It’s true that I had a lot of faith in the (Williams) project with the numbers they showed me, but being ahead of the Ferraris for the second race in a row? If you had told me this before the start of the year, I would have signed the Williams contract even faster than I did.”
Speaking to Corriere dello Sport, however, Sainz tipped Ferrari to “solve the problems” eventually, adding: “If they call me in the future, I’ll be back.”
Some, however, are starting to question Ferrari’s stalled progress under the reign of Vasseur.
F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali knows what it’s like to be ousted from the top job at Ferrari, telling Sky Italia at Imola: “Ferrari is a privilege and a responsibility, but we have to let Vasseur work.”
One journalist even dared to tell Vasseur that it is becoming clear that Ferrari’s 2025 weakness is with the rear suspension, amid speculation a new layout is now under development at Maranello.
“What I love about journalists is that I learn more from you than I do from the team during race weekends,” the Frenchman joked.
“We’re not where we want to be, but there’s no single flaw in a car, just as there’s no magic thing about winning cars. We’re working and trying to improve, but there won’t be a magic solution.”