It was an extremely disappointing weekend for Scuderia Ferrari, who struggled for pace throughout the weekend and finished fifth and sixth at the FIA Formula 1 World Championships Mexican Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz Jr. started fifth after a poor qualifying session, and managed to maintain his position off the race start and defend from Valtteri Bottas and his team-mate Charles Leclerc. However, from that point onwards, Ferrari struggled for pace and fell well behind the frontrunners, so much so that George Russell was able to stop with a lap to go for a fastest lap attempt without losing a position to Sainz.
Sainz was honest after the race and admitted that he or the team had no pace compared to the front, and struggled to make an impact despite the car being in a good place throughout the weekend.
“Today we did everything we could to get the best result possible, but unfortunately the pace was not there, so P5 was the maximum we could aim for. From my side, despite the overall picture, I had a good race and the feeling inside the car was positive this weekend.
“We will try to build on that ahead of Brazil and make sure we are ready for the last two races.“
Charles Leclerc Admits Mexican Grand Prix was a “lonely race”
Charles Leclerc was unable to have any real impact at the front, in what was a lonely race for the Ferrari driver.
Leclerc started seventh on the grid, behind the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN of Bottas after an extremely disappointing performance in the qualifying session on Saturday. However, he did manage to see some lap one action in his one-hundredth Formula One race start, as he got off the line quicker than Bottas and closed up to his team-mate in fifth. That would be the only action of the race for the Ferrari driver, though, who came home to finish in sixth position.
Similarly, to his team-mate, Leclerc was painfully honest after the race and summed it up to be a disappointing race that points to the team’s inconsistency
“It was a lonely race. Carlos and I were lapping together, too quick for the midfield but too slow for the front runners. We stuck to our strategy, focused on ourselves and got the most out of our package, but we were just too far off and we have to understand why so that we can work on being more consistent.
“As always, it was amazing to see so many fans around the track in Mexico City and to feel their passion.“
