Carlos Sainz Jr of Spain, driving for Ferrari SF-24, participated in the Formula 1 World Championship, Round 4, the Japanese Grand Prix, held in Suzuka, Japan, on June 4, 2024, during the Qualifying Day.
Sainz has dismissed Ferrari’s inability to match Red Bull’s pace during the one-lap qualifying session at the Japanese Grand Prix as a setback. The team had anticipated being behind the reigning champions in terms of performance. Despite Ferrari’s 1-2 finish in the previous race in Melbourne, expectations were not met as Sainz finished fourth, trailing behind both Red Bull drivers and the leading McLaren of Lando Norris. Charles Leclerc, Sainz’s teammate, struggled and finished eighth.
Sainz acknowledges that he extracted the maximum potential from Ferrari’s SF-24 car during his qualifying lap, resulting in a 0.485-second deficit to Max Verstappen’s pole position time. He remains hopeful for a closer battle in the race, aiming for a qualifying time of around 1 minute 28.6 seconds.
The Spanish driver emphasizes that Ferrari anticipated their main competitors, Red Bull and McLaren, to have an advantage on the high-speed sweeps of the Suzuka track. Comparing his performance to the previous year, Sainz notes a slight improvement but acknowledges that Suzuka may not be favorable for Ferrari in terms of pure performance. He believes that Red Bull and McLaren have an edge in long, high-speed corners. However, Sainz remains optimistic about fighting for a podium position in the race, although a victory seems unlikely. He hopes that Ferrari and McLaren can narrow the gap and compete closely during the race.
Sainz revealed that his skepticism about Ferrari’s chances stemmed from the understanding that their upgraded car couldn’t make up the one-second gap it had in Japan last year.
“That’s why yesterday I was trying to temper everyone’s expectations because we were aware that we were one second behind last year and we haven’t made a one-second improvement from last year to this year at a challenging track like Suzuka, so it was always going to be difficult,” he explained.
“However, I am very pleased with how the car feels. It feels like a step forward on tracks like this, and today I managed to do a couple of clean laps to position myself for tomorrow’s fight.”
The departing Ferrari driver also dismissed the idea that the team has received a reality check after Red Bull’s front-row lockout.
“I believe that when we go to tracks like Monza, Singapore, or Miami, we will be in the mix to fight for wins,” he added. “But at other tracks, the Red Bull car is simply superior.”
“As I mentioned in the press conference, we were aware that this car would face more challenges on this type of track this weekend. However, we remain focused and will try everything we can.”
During practice, Ferrari seemed stronger in terms of one-lap performance, leading Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko to suggest that they could be a threat.
However, despite Verstappen also expressing dissatisfaction with his race simulations, Sainz pointed out that the Austrian team tends to hold back some pace.
“They are not better than Red Bull, it just appears that way,” Sainz commented on Ferrari’s long-run comparison to Red Bull.
“They always run really slow on Fridays, so it seems like we will beat them on Sunday, but then we end up 20 seconds behind.
“They are always incredibly quick on Sundays, and I think they intentionally hold back during the long runs because they know it is their strength.
“Perhaps we are a bit closer, but we shouldn’t expect to find half a second tomorrow.”