Leclerc and Sainz vow to work on Ferrari's annoying bouncing problem
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz acknowledged after the tough Austrian Grand Prix that the Scuderia needs to get it act together if its wants to rejoin the fight at the sharp end of the field.
The final result was mixed for Ferrari at yesterday’s Austrian Grand Prix. On the one hand, Carlos Sainz returned to the podium, completing a very solid race, while on the other, there’s great disappointment for Charles Leclerc who tried to stage an almost impossible recovery following a collision at the start.
Sainz started from P4 on the grid yesterday, and was locked in a battle with Mercedes driver George Russell in the opening stages of the 71-lap race. However, just as in the Saturday's Sprint race, the Spaniard was unable to keep up with the Briton, and he was ultimately overtaken by the McLaren of Oscar Piastri in the closing stages.
With the leading duo of Max Verstappen and Lando Norris coming together on Lap 64, Sainz gained two spots to secure his first podium since the Monaco Grand Prix.
"This P3 is a positive result and it's a good reward for us after what was a difficult start to the weekend. Yesterday we worked hard to try to improve the car after the Sprint and we had a better qualifying. Today it was an eventful race and our pace wasn't bad, fighting with the Mercedes for a place on the podium.
"Unfortunately, after the crash at the front I couldn’t do much to keep the other McLaren behind as they’ve been very fast here in Austria. All in all, a podium is a good result and now we need to focus on ourselves to be able to fight at the front, which is where we want to be. All eyes on Silverstone."
Leclerc's race was immediately compromised when, at Turn 1, he was squeezed between Oscar Piastri and Sergio Perez and he came off worst, having to pit to replace a damaged front wing.
From then on, the Monegasque pinned his hopes on a Safety Car that never came to let him close up on the field. Although he displayed impressive speed when driving in free air, he missed out on picking up a point as he finished eleventh.
"Unfortunately, this was a weekend to forget as nothing went as it should. The collision on the opening lap obviously completely ruined my race.
"We were hoping for a Safety Car but it didn’t come and I lost time behind Lando (Norris) when I had fresh tyres and could have pushed more. The end result was that we couldn’t even score a point.
Although Ferrari introduced an extensive host of upgrades at Barcelona, the upgraded car appears to suffer from bouncing in high-speed corners. So severe was the bouncing that Leclerc and Sainz were forced to lift off in Turns 6 and 9 which are the two high-speed corners of the Red Bull Ring.
Leclerc said that the team was able to collect a wealth of data over the course of the Austrian Grand Prix which should enable the Scuderia to refine the upgraded package for this weekend's Silverstone round.
"Apart from Carlos’ podium which brings us a good points haul in the Constructors’, the only other positive aspect of the weekend is that we were able to try various set-up configurations, producing plenty of data for the team, which will be very important for the upcoming races. Tomorrow, we will immediately start working hard with the aim of putting this race behind us, right from next weekend at Silverstone," noted Leclerc.
