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Carlos Sainz believes he took a “step forward” at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but has identified the areas where he still needs to improve to match his Ferrari Formula 1 team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Sainz outscored Leclerc during his first season with Ferrari in 2021 but has found adapting to the F1-75 far more of a struggle.
While Leclerc battled with Verstappen for the race win in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, Sainz wasn’t able to join the lead fight in either race.
He picked up second in Bahrain when Verstappen retired and was firmly third-best behind Verstappen and Leclerc in Jeddah.
Sainz labelled the season-opening Bahrain GP as the “most difficult weekend of my Ferrari career” but said the race day in Jeddah was the high point of his 2022 so far.
“The technicalities and the specifics need to stay in the team for the sake of privacy and not giving away too much,” Sainz said when asked about his struggles.
“I think this is something so specific and so technical, that it will be very difficult to explain to you guys in the media and I think we need to keep a level of privacy in these kind of things.
“But I can already tell you that for me, this has been the best experience this year so far.
“Just going to a track [Jeddah] that 100 days ago I was here with a super high level of confidence with last year’s car, I was super quick in qualifying and in the race, and I knew exactly what to expect from the car and what the car was giving me.
“A hundred days later I come back and in corners where last year I was very strong this year I seem to be struggling quite a bit more, and I’m not driving the car the way that it should be driven – together with the car is not giving me exactly a feeling that I need for my driving.
“These two combinations of things are the things that I’m working on.”
Sainz topped Q1 and Q2 in Jeddah before qualifying third behind his team-mate Leclerc and polesitter Sergio Perez, believing his preference for used soft tyres with last weekend’s Ferrari set-up over fresh softs cost him pole.
Prior to the race, Sainz’s car appeared to be in trouble with a suspected loom problem he wouldn’t disclose details of, but he managed to take the race start.
When the race began, Verstappen demoted him to fourth as he got bottled up behind Leclerc on the opening lap, but he picked up third when Perez had to give him back the position for overtaking under the safety car.
“This weekend I think I’ve made a step forward and I made a step in the right direction for the race,” he said.
“But I must say that has also given me the awareness of the two or three types of corner, the two or three places that last year I was feeling so confident and comfortable and that this year I’m not.
“And it has given me two data points to work on and become stronger for the future.”
Sainz had a better opportunity to work out those differences in Jeddah than in Bahrain because last year’s Bahrain GP was his first with Ferrari, while the 2021 Saudi GP was only three races ago in December and was one of his strongest race performances, even if the end result of eighth place didn’t show it.
“This weekend gives me hope that if we keep working like this then I should just keep getting better and better every race,” Sainz added.
“It might need a bit of more trial and error, try in one direction, maybe not getting it right and coming back.”
Sainz’s brace of podiums leaves him second in the drivers’ standings, 12 points adrift of his championship-leading team-mate and eight ahead of Saudi GP winner Verstappen.
“I’m still not 100% with the car, so to keep bringing the points and the podiums is important until I will get back to 100% and it will be time to join these guys at the top for the fight [for wins],” Sainz said.
