F1 News: Ferrari Issue Revealed As Sprint Yields Poor Results for Sainz and Leclerc

In the recent F1 sprint race in Austria, Ferrari faced brake temperature issues leading to disappointing results for drivers Sainz and Leclerc, highlighting the need for the team to address technical challenges for the upcoming Grand Prix.

Ferrari

At the Formula 1 World Championship's Round 11 sprint race in Spielberg, Austria, the iconic Ferrari team faced a disappointing outing, notably for drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Both drivers grappled with persistent brake temperature issues that severely hampered their performance throughout the race, leading to underwhelming results.

Carlos Sainz, starting the sprint race with a promising move to overtake George Russell, initially climbing the ranks. However, his progress was short-lived due to escalating brake management issues that forced him to lift and coast. This adjustment not only caused Sainz to lose the DRS advantage to Oscar Piastri but also made him susceptible to a counterattack from Russell. Reflecting on his ordeal, Sainz described the situation:

"We had a good start. We managed to get the DRS of Piastri but we had brake issues. We had to lift and coast, and that made me lose DRS to Piastri, and vulnerable to George. In the end, George passed me.

"The brakes stabilized a bit and we managed to keep Lewis behind. You could see that they were just a bit quicker than us together. That’s the situation unfortunately.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Charles Leclerc started the race in 10th position due to a missed opportunity in SQ3 triggered by an anti-stall issue. Despite this, Leclerc managed a surge at the start, moving up to seventh place. However, like his teammate, Leclerc's Ferrari also suffered from braking issues that stalled any further progress in the race. Leclerc shared his frustration:

"We did the best we could do. To be honest, we did most of the positions at the start. After the start, the pace is just not good enough. We had to manage quite a lot the brakes, the last car in the queue. Having changed something, I don’t think it would change a lot.

"We’re just not fast enough at the moment. We need to look into it because we’re just struggling quite a bit.”

The Ferrari SF-24, although showing significant performance at this point in the season, showcased severe limitations in brake temperature management during the sprint.

While the Ferrari team grapples with these issues, their direct competitors, notably George Russell and Lewis Hamilton of the Mercedes team, continue to exert pressure. For Ferrari, the challenge now lies not only in overcoming this technical hurdle before qualifying later today at the famous Spielberg circuit.