'Disappointed' Sainz Identifies Problem That Killed Ferrari's Chances For Pole

Sunday, 23 June 2024 at 13:00

Carlos Sainz discussed the issues he was fighting during the qualifying session in Barcelona, where he ultimately finished in P6.

The 2024 Spanish Grand Prix looked very good for Scuderia Ferrari during the first three practice sessions. The Italian team brought an important upgrade to the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which apparently worked as expected.

Going into qualifying, both Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc felt confident they might compete for pole. However, they were only fast enough for P6 and P5 in the end, behind Mercedes drivers and Max Verstappen with Lando Norris.

Speaking to the media after the session, the Spanish Ferrari driver revealed what went wrong and why he wasn't able to set a better time.

"We've been struggling all weekend with the high-speed corners. We still have this phenomenon, bouncing phenomenon, that gives us a very tough time in the high-speed corners."

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"Probably, this is also killing a bit the tire for the third sector. I don't know. But still the third year of these regulations [and] I'm fighting this porpoising in high-speed corners when you put lateral load in the car."

Porpoising was a big problem in 2022 when the regulations were introduced for the first time, and all teams eliminated it over the following seasons. However, it pops up again every now and then.

"And it's been tough all weekend to try and get rid of it. And still, we haven't managed to get rid of it. We come to this track, and you can see McLaren and Red Bull with zero bouncing, and I think they're doing a good job."

"We kind of realise that Red Bull, when they turn it up, and McLaren, when they turn it up, they had an edge over us."

The 29-year-old Spaniard admitted he was disappointed. He wanted to score big during his last season at Ferrari in front of the home crowd. Although he still has a chance to do so, it will be very complicated from P6 on the grid.

"I'm disappointed because, honestly, after free practice, I thought we had a chance to fight for pole position this weekend. But very quickly in Q2, we realized we were just a step too far."