Carlos Sainz has his sight set on a podium finish in Formula 1’s season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix despite not making the progress he had hoped in the final session.
Impressive one-lap performance through free practice saw Ferrari emerge as Red Bull’s greatest competitor for pole heading into the first qualifying session of the year.
But it wasn’t to be for the Scuderia as Charles Leclerc settled for second on the grid, two-tenths adrift of polesitter Max Verstappen.
One of four cars three-tenths off the ultimate pace, Sainz will assume fourth on the grid behind Mercedes’ George Russell and ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
“I think that we were very strong from the beginning of Q1, a bit like we saw in FP3 and in testing, very good over one lap,” said Sainz, who topped proceedings in Q1.
“Unfortunately, even though I did a very conservative lap in Q2 and I tried to save that tyre for the race start tomorrow I thought we had two or three tenths in the pocket going into Q3 and for some reason, those two or three tenths never came.
“I repeated my lap times more or less from Q2 and it shows maybe there is something to look at from Q3 because we didn’t do the progress that we normally do.”
Sainz added that a later session start time resulted in less extreme improvements on an already cool track with variable wind also contributing to his struggles.
Regardless, the Spaniard remains confident that Ferrari has taken the necessary strides over the winter to improve its race performance.
“I think we are more or less there,” Sainz said looking ahead to the grand prix. “[We are] Within reach of the podium if we do a perfect race.
“At the same time we are starting on the dirty side, Checo will be starting on new softs tomorrow, which is two or three seconds of race time, so he will be very very tough to beat.
“While I think the Mercedes, us, the McLarens, the Aston Martins, we have the same pace more or less. So, it’s going to be an interesting one.”
Targeting a podium, Sainz was less optimistic about Ferrari’s ability to prevent Verstappen and Red Bull cantering to a first win of the season.
“Let’s wait until the race, I think that’s where they suddenly level it up and that’s where they manage to have degradation that no one can have and a race pace that no one can have,” he said of the reigning champions.
“I think last year, if you look at the last eight races, in qualifying we were always there or within reach of them. This year we felt again within reach in qualifying; in the race, we’ll see tomorrow.”
Asked whether he felt this year’s Ferrari was a better base than 2023’s product, Sainz responded: “A better base, yes. A more predictable one [with] better understanding.
“Now we are ready to fight for better things, hopefully, this year. At the same time that race pace of the Red Bull yesterday still looks very, very strong.
“But, hopefully, with the Mercedes, McLarens and Astons, that last year we would do a step back in the race, hopefully we don’t do it. But tomorrow will tell.”
