Leclerc has clearly been forward of Sainz in Austin, having taken pole for Sunday’s important race and certified second within the Saturday shootout, whereas Sainz was fourth and sixth within the two classes.
Sainz says that the dash weekend meant that he couldn’t optimise the automobile over the bumps, that are extra extreme this yr, in FP1.
“For me it is primarily observe traits,” stated the Spaniard when requested about Leclerc’s benefit.
“The automobile right here is bouncing round lots and leaping round lots and when that is the case usually Charles copes with it a bit higher than I do.
“And this time I did not have time to vary the setup to enhance it, to place it a bit extra to my liking, and go into the race weekend a bit extra snug with the automobile to extract an increasing number of efficiency.
“In dash weekends that is the issue, that you just’re caught with the baseline arrange roughly which you could run and the quantity of bumps once more this yr stunned us being even bumpier than final yr. I am simply not coping very effectively with it within the excessive velocity. Not lots of confidence.
“I really feel just like the automobile goes to snap on me at any cut-off date, and I am having to drive one step below the restrict, which is rarely excellent in quali.”
Photograph by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Sainz was the one driver within the discipline to go for comfortable tyres for Saturday’s dash, and from sixth on the grid he gained two locations.
He subsequently fell again behind Lando Norris and Sergio Perez to complete within the place wherein he began, having efficiently fended off George Russell.
“To begin with on the grid being the one one on softs does not offer you lots of confidence,” he stated of his alternative. “We thought there have been going to be extra automobiles on the market with softs.
“If we go for comfortable it implies that our tyre mannequin means that it isn’t a foul tyre to go on. If not, we merely would not even contemplate it. It instructed that it may very well be an honest tyre for this race, as earlier years the comfortable has been an honest tyre right here.
“This time round clearly we have to analyse if we will do one thing, as a result of was it well worth the threat? And possibly it wasn’t. However we have to analyse how we will possibly do a bit higher there. In the long run it paid off firstly, however at one level it did seem like it was going to be very difficult.”
Sainz admitted that he was stunned to have the ability to grasp onto sixth place.
“Mid-race as soon as Lando and Perez handed me and George was attacking me I believed we had been simply going to go backwards,” he stated.
Photograph by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
“I managed to recuperate the tyre effectively, and did some good defending with a view to preserve them behind. And we introduced residence a P6 that at one level did not seem like it was going to be potential.
“Sadly, for me, it has been extra defending than attacking all yr lengthy! However in all probability due to doing a lot defending all yr I am getting some observe, and I am getting higher at it.”
Requested if he’d questioned the comfortable tyre technique name, he stated: “I will preserve that for myself! However clearly it was a troublesome name to do.
“However in the long run additionally we discovered some worthwhile info for my crew, given tomorrow there’s loads of methods obtainable on the market, and now we all know how the comfortable behaves we will map it, and examine it to the medium.”