29/08/2022
NEWS STORY
Finishing almost 30s behind Max Verstappen, who started from 14th, Carlos Sainz admits that Ferrari was no match for Red Bull at Spa, and teammate Charles Leclerc agrees.
Despite the change in conditions, the pace shown by the Austrian team on Friday and Saturday continued into the race, and once the flag fell on its fourth 1-2 of the season, the Ferrari pair were the first to admit that they were no match.
"We left nothing on the table today," said Sainz. "We were just not strong enough compared to them, they were on another planet this weekend.
They were just strong in qualifying, strong in the race, better in tyre management, stronger in the straights, strong in the corners, in some of them, and we were not quick enough, unfortunately.
"I think we would lie if we wouldn't say that we are surprised," he admitted, "because the gap was certainly much bigger, or the biggest we've seen all season across the two teams. And it's certainly something that we didn't expect, which means that we need to go back and analyse why at this sort of track we are so weak.
"We still need to analyse, take some conclusions and try to come back with a better low-downforce package for Monza, in case we are not so strong there also."
"Very, very surprised," added teammate, Charles Leclerc, who finished a distant sixth after another calamitous afternoon.
"In qualifying, qualifying and race," he continued. "If you look at how close we were to the midfield I think we were more or less like we were in the first part of the season but they just were much quicker than us, so very strange.
"I'm not feeling good obviously," he admitted. "Other than all of this, there's also the pace. The pace, Carlos and I... the thing that is strange is the feeling is quite OK inside the car. But then you look at the pace compared to Red Bull and they are on another planet completely.
"So we need to understand and hopefully by Zandvoort we understand and we come back to as close to Red Bull as we were in the first part of the season."
Losing out on fifth, after the late decision to pit him for fresh rubber for an attempt at fastest lap, a move which totally backfired, Leclerc defended the team's call.
"At the end, it's more frustrating to see the delta of pace there was between Red Bull and us, which is the thing we need to work on," he said.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Spa here.