Carlos Sainz Jnr says he is “very disappointed” with his pace over the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend as he was classified out of the points.
The Ferrari driver started 16th on the grid after he was eliminated in Q1 in qualifying and was classified 18th after pulling into the pits on the penultimate lap.Sainz’s point-less finish contributed to Ferrari’s failure to overcome Mercedes and snatch second place in the constructors’ championship. The two teams were separated by three points at the end of the season. He admitted the final two rounds of the season, in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, had been a disappointment for him.
“Today, the last two weekends – this last weekend in general – hasn’t gone like I expected or like we wanted to finish the year,” he told media including RaceFans after the race.
“Honestly I’m very disappointed and obviously not happy, given how close it was in the end with the constructors’ championship. We will have to sit down, analyse, see what we could have done better today and what was going on, because clearly the pace this weekend and the overall feeling with the car and everything in the end wasn’t good.”
Starting well down the order, Sainz ran his first two stints on the hard compound before switching to soft tyres late in the race. He admitted Ferrari had been hoping for a Safety Car intervention.
“We started on the hard, expecting the hard to help us do a one-stop,” he explained.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“Again, like we’ve seen many times this year, whenever we start on harder compounds with our car, we struggle a lot and it was again today. We had nothing to lose starting 16th and we gave it a go, but in the end it didn’t work for us, this hard tyre. The harder compounds at the beginning of the race with the dirty air and the sliding just doesn’t work for us.
“Once we saw that we had very little chance of scoring points, we left it out for a Safety Car and it didn’t work out. Also we had to retire at the end with a [power unit] issue, so it’s not like it would have changed much.”
With Ferrari missing out on second place in the constructors’ championship to Mercedes, Sainz believes third in the standings is a just finishing position for his team.
“I think it’s fair,” he said. “I think we’ve had our moments with where we’ve been quicker. I think Mercedes have had their moments when they’ve been quicker. Overall, maybe a bit of reliability here and there – probably overall I think we’ve been a quicker car – but they’ve been a little bit more consistent than us anyway.
“I think it’s a season where the team has made a lot of progress. I think we’ve learned a lot from this car, from these tyres. We’ve finished the season a lot stronger than where we started and it’s something we can bank on for next year, expecting hopefully a more competitive package.”
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
2023 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
- Mercedes’ team photo shows we still have a long way to go on diversity – Hamilton
- Why luck was a factor in Perez’s penalty for “joke” comment
- Bottas and Zhou see encouraging signs from overhauled 2024 car
- Only Verstappen got the best from his car every weekend, rival team bosses admit
- How Sainz suffered the worst season finale for a driver since Schumacher in 1997
dan
26th November 2023, 18:42
Mate just stop u had fp1, Lewis did his job you did not do yours. The biggest travesty in f1 history after abu dhabi 21 of course would sainz being 2-1 vs Lec
Todfod (@todfod)
27th November 2023, 5:03
Agree.. I’m glad that Leclerc finished ahead of Sainz in the points total. Charles had a lot more bad luck and poor strategies throughout the season, but was as usual, a better driver than Sainz for a major part of the season. Sainz was definitely on form for a few races after the summer break – From Zandvoort to Singapore.. but dropped the ball massively when the team needed him, like this race weekend.
dan
26th November 2023, 18:44
So glad Lec beat him the biggest travesty ever him being 2-1 vs a far quicker dirvier woulda been reminds me of the Button fans when they say he beat Lewis in poins ovder a 3 yr period, hello losers Ham beat Button 2-1 in seasons which is what matters
AlanD
26th November 2023, 19:22
Dan “hello losers Ham beat Button 2-1 in seasons which is what matters”
That’s a bit uncalled for. I’m sure you are quick to complain when threads about other drivers get hijacked into a criticism of LH, so why are you hijacking it into a criticism of LH-unfans who haven’t said a peep yet, let alone about something that happened 10 years ago.
slowmo (@slowmo)
26th November 2023, 20:45
But Hamilton still got beat on
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th November 2023, 12:16
Points don’t always tell the whole story, otherwise kvyat would be better than ricciardo.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
27th November 2023, 12:16
Case in point here, sainz is usually a more reliable point scorer and leclerc is usually faster, so like 2021, seasons like this will end up with sainz scoring relatively a lot of points, while seasons where the car is more competitive like 2022 will be in leclerc’s favour.
AlexS
27th November 2023, 3:32
The Championship manufacturer 2nd place is tainted by Las Vegas track and FIA rules.
miciek (@micio)
27th November 2023, 9:03
I don’t understand Sainz.
He was such a beast at Monza and Singapore. No mistakes, quick throughout the whole weekend, making the right calls, not succumbing to the pressure.
Why just these 2 races though? What happened in the other 20 races? What’s the reason here?
I don’t understand.