Ferrari experienced a difficult practice Friday at Zandvoort: Carlos Sainz slowed by gearbox problem, Charles Leclerc not satisfied with the pace
Carlos Sainz was the unlucky driver on the first day of Formula 1 practice at Zandvoort. The Ferrari driver missed large parts of the afternoon session because he was only able to complete seven laps due to a gearbox problem. He therefore starts the weekend at a disadvantage
“I basically had no time on the track today,” the Spaniard complained. Although he was able to complete 15 laps in the first session, these were not particularly representative due to the conditions.
“And while everyone was trying to make up time in the second session, I had a gearbox problem that meant I couldn’t do more than two or three laps again,” he says, annoyed. The good news: because Ferrari had installed an old gearbox, this should have no effect for the rest of the weekend.
In sporting terms, however, the disrupted Friday is already a small disadvantage. “That’s obviously not ideal,” he says. “We would have needed both cars on the track because we know it’s one of our worst tracks. It would have been nice to be able to try something with both cars. “
Unfortunately we’ve encountered a gearbox issue on @Carlossainz55‘s car, meaning his FP2 is over DutchGP F1 pic. twitter.com/Yl86l08kih
– Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) August 23, 2024
So it’s almost like a sprint weekend for him, because he has to go into qualifying without much practice time. “We only have one practice session to get up to speed and have a good weekend,” said Sainz. “I have to get going tomorrow in the third practice session and make sure I get on the pace straight away. Hopefully we can still put in a good performance.”
But it didn’t look like that for Ferrari on Friday, as team-mate Charles Leclerc also only finished ninth, 0.741 seconds behind. “As expected, I would say,” says the Monegasque.
Although he completed a total of 46 laps on Friday, he struggled with the pace of his Ferrari: “Unfortunately, we didn’t really have the pace of the guys in front,” he says. “It’s better than it looks in the timesheets, but we’re certainly not in the fight for victory. We still have quite a lot of work to do and we will get it done. I hope it will pay off. “
In theory, bad weather on Saturday could provide an opportunity, but in general Leclerc believes Ferrari is a little too far away from the front this weekend. “I will try to create something special in qualifying, but we are talking about gaps that are a bit too big at the moment to create something special,” he says.
“If we could get within two or three tenths, we could do something, but if not, then I foresee a difficult weekend for us. “
