“A return to reality” for Sainz and Ferrari

What to remember from the race Carlos Sainz in Sakhir? Difficult to say, as the Spaniard was so transparent on Sunday, during the Bahrain Grand Prix. Starting 4th on the grid, the driver of the Team failed to keep up with the pace of Red Bull and his teammate and vegetated for a long time in his starting position. If he benefited from the abandonment of Charles Leclerc to gain a position, the Madrilenian lost it a few minutes later against his compatriot (and idol) Fernando Alonso. 

The Spaniard managed to maintain Lewis Hamilton behind him at the end of the race to save Ferrari's furniture and its 4th place. On arrival, it was a disillusioned Carlos Sainz who responded to journalists in the mixed zone, aware of the delay the Scuderia was falling behind its main adversaries. “From the [winter] tests, we knew that the Red Bulls and the Aston Martin had much better degradation [of tires] and a much better race pace than us. In the end we had to settle for fourth place, which to be honest isn't much better than what we could have done today. »

Ferrari behind Aston Martin? “This is where we are”

A situation far from ideal and far from that known in 2022, where Ferrari managed to stay in the match against Red Bull, with a few exceptions. For Carlos Sainz, the slap suffered in Bahrain hurts. “It’s a reality check, this is where we are. We just used the tires too much, explained Carlos Sainz. As soon as I pushed to defend against Fernando, I wore out the tires and then you have to start looking towards Lewis [Hamilton] as well. We managed to keep Lewis at bay, but that gives us very little room to play with the race. »

Given the results in Bahrain, it could well be that Ferrari won't even be able to fight for the title this season against Red Bull... but will have to fight to keep its 2nd place against Aston Martin, who won the first battle this weekend -end in Sakhir. 

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