The Pole-sitter for the upcoming Mexico City GP, Carlos Sainz, says Ferrari’s recent strong form feels slightly bittersweet as he prepares for his transfer to Williams for the 2025 F1 season.
The Maranello-based team is chasing a second consecutive win after Charles Leclerc’s dominant performance at the Circuit of the Americas last weekend.
Ferrari has also shown strong form in recent months, claiming their first home win in five years at Monza with a well-executed strategy, and securing a close 2nd place at the nail-biting Azerbaijan GP in September.
“It’s very sweet, given how good the car is, how well I’m driving recently, obviously optimistic going into the last five races.”
“At the same time, it’s bittersweet because it gives me a feeling Ferrari might be in the fight for the world championship next year and I will not be there to use it.” – Sainz continued.
The Spanish driver who is set to leave the ‘Scuderria’ after 4 seasons feels that he was a ‘good part of the team that built a championship contender over the past few seasons.’
After a strong start to the upgraded Turbo-Hybrid era early in the 2022 season, Ferrari’s impressive one-lap pace was soon overshadowed by severe tire wear and questionable pit-wall strategies.
Now, however, Ferrari appears to lead the grid in tire management. With several seasons finishing in 3rd or 4th place, they’ve benefited from additional wind tunnel hours, allowing the Italian team more time to enhance their car’s performance.
Sainz remarked that the team now mainly needs to address issues in high-speed cornering to further improve.
“We are still lacking in high-speed corners, hopefully we’ll be in the mix, which means you give yourself a chance at winning at almost every track except for Qatar that I think is not a Ferrari track at all.”