F1 News
Sainz sees improvement: "Before it was easy to pass Ferrari"
- GPblog.com
With an eighth place in his first race for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz looks back on a successful debut with his new employer. Especially since it initially looked like Ferrari would have a worse time of it.
Encouraging start
When Sainz announced his switch from McLaren to Ferrari last year, most people saw it as a step backwards. Despite the status of Ferrari. McLaren finished third in the championship last season, Ferrari only sixth. Still, Ferrari seems to be greatly improved from last year and the Italian team - albeit only after one race - is fourth in the championship.
Sainz, therefore, sees his eighth place [and sixth for teammate Charles Leclerc] as mainly an encouraging start. He can also clearly see the difference with his old employer. " I remember that I passed Leclerc quite easily with last year's McLaren, how big the gap was between McLaren and Ferrari, and how close I came now to overtaking [Daniel] Ricciardo at the end in Bahrain," the Spaniard told Marca.com. "Towards the end of the race I had a much better pace than Daniel, I was overtaking him at more than half a second a lap."
Continue to improve
"I am happy with what I have seen, there are positive signs. It's a very good step forward, a big step compared to last year," Sainz enthused. He is therefore very happy with Ferrari's progress but realises that there is still a lot of work to be done. "Now it's about continuing to find the details, keep working hard in Maranello and keep improving. Even as we start to focus more on 2022."