Ferrari has had a good run of recent form in the 2024 F1 season, with two wins in the last three races, is a stark contrast to its mid-season struggles after an update package introduced at the Spanish GP brought an unusual “bouncing” behaviour back, which Carlos Sainz is now relieved, as he labelled it as an “not acceptable” behaviour for a modern F1 car.
Sainz, who is set to join Williams next season on a multi-year deal after four seasons after Ferrari, explained ahead of the F1 Brazil GP how their mid-season struggles with its update package were a common theme throughout the field, as many teams found themselves in difficult situations with new parts not working as expected, but admitted he was very “vocal” about it:
“Regarding the mid-season struggles, we went through a tough period, I think every team this year has gone through a tough period with development,” he said. “Maybe only McLaren are the ones that have clearly everything they put on the car, it’s worked.
“But every other team in the grid I think has gone through some struggles and it’s the same for us.
“I was quite vocal and quite critical about those struggles and the things that I didn’t like about that package,” he admitted.
However, the Spaniard praised the Scuderia’s ability to recover “really well” from its difficult spell, with a package introduced at the Singapore GP proving crucial in helping the team access more “usable” downforce without reaching into bouncing territory and increasing the general ride quality of the SF-24:
“But at the same time, I’m the first one to prize the team for the recovery process from then onwards, the way we accepted it and the way that we recovered from it also shows a great team strength.
“And I think we, in that sense, we’ve recovered really well and put ourselves back into a good position.
“If you ask me personally, my personal feeling is that [the Singapore update] was a very small step in terms of downforce, but it’s just been maybe a bigger step in terms of usable downforce and especially the way you can run the car with [suspension] stiffness, etc.”
The four-time grand prix winner went as far as saying the car was “undrivable” and “unacceptable” during the run of races before the crucial fixes were introduced in Monza and Singapore, and expressed his relief that now he has a car that behaves as expected and could provide the platform to end the season on a high:
“I’m just happy that the car doesn’t bounce as much and it’s into a decent window because that’s for me [that’s] how a Formula 1 car should behave and perform, and what we had in mid-season was just in a way not acceptable and not very drivable,” he said.
“And the moment we corrected that, I’m happy that it’s paid [off], because it’s how a Formula 1 car should behave and should be.
“And I’m happy that it’s proving itself that way because it’s just giving us a much better platform to work with and it’s just a more usable car for sure.”
