“We haven’t seen anything like this since Türkiye 2020”
Ferrari faces one of the most important weekends of the season with what’s on the line: retaining the constructors’ championship or allowing McLaren, who lead the table by 36 points, to escape. And the Las Vegas Grand Prix is proposed as one of the key scenarios for resolving this struggle.
Shameful conditions
It’s no surprise that the American track is on the calendar due to the amount of money and marketing it brings to the category. because the layout will not take into account the constant criticism that was last year from the riders and is repeated this year.
This time, Carlos Sainz was the victim not of the sewerage that damaged his flat bottom, but of the lack of grip he found on the track. Also, reports from drivers such as Max Verstappen or Fernando Alonso mean that the Spaniard was not comfortable driving the SF-24. A situation that, according to the Madrid native, has not been seen since 2020.
“Like everyone else, it was especially difficult in the first laps of Free Practice 1, where the grip was lower. I think we haven’t seen anything like this since Turkey 2020, where we had such crazy conditions with poor grip.”– said the Ferrari driver.
“As we went into the night the temperature dropped and things seemed a little tougher, but I think everyone is in the same boat. “It’s a very fine line between the tires being ready or not in the first sector and from that point on it can turn into a very good or a very bad lap, so yes, it’s a different track,” he continued. .
“I think we’re in a fight. Mercedes were very strong all day, Lando and McLaren too, perhaps we are not as strong as everyone thought. So tonight we have homework to try to find lap times, especially for qualifying,” concluded Carlos Sainz.
This is how the Ferrari driver ended the first day of free practice, criticizing Formula 1 for relying on tracks of this type, without grip and with low temperatures.
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