Carlos Sainz described his Italian Grand Prix as “difficult” amid weekend-long struggles with the SF21 in race spec.
Sainz qualified seventh, ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc, but suffered a sizeable accident at Ascari in the second practice session.
Sainz fell behind Leclerc in Sprint and went on to classify sixth in the grand prix.
“The only point I was more or less confident was qualifying where the high rear grip of the Soft rear tyre was helping me to understand the car a bit better,” he said.
“In race runs I was sliding a lot the rear, never quite had the top speed, was struggling with tyre degradation.
“It’s [been] very tricky, it’s been a difficult weekend for me and now I need to analyse what I can do better for the next race.”
Expanding further on his race Sainz said: “Yeah, we were always there very close to the opportunity but never quite had the pace and the tools to get in the fight.
“We have certain weaknesses with the car that are too big, when we were in a fight it was very difficult to keep the others behind or attack them.
“It’s a shame because you could always see the podium there very close to you but never had the chance to fight for it.”
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