A major upgrade for Ferrari at the Spanish Grand Prix is a "first step" in a "new direction", Carlos Sainz claims.
On Thursday, Formula 1 got its first look at the revised SF-23 with significant changes to the floor, mirrors and notably the sidepods, which feature a greater undercut and more downwashing, akin to the concept pioneered by Red Bull.
After Mercedes, #Ferrari is next to make a big shift in sidepod design, moving closer to a Red Bull-style concept
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Barcelona image via Giorgio Piola#F1 #Formula1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/KwpsfhtkH5
Speaking ahead of his home race in Barcelona, Sainz revealed Ferrari had been working "flat out" to bring the new parts that were originally scheduled for much later in the season.
“It’s a bit of a new direction, into what we believe should be the right path to develop this car,” he continued.
“Making it a better car, a more driveable car, more consistent, better in the race - that is what we know is our main weakness.
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“You’ve seen it hasn’t been an easy start to the season and we’ve been struggling. But it is true that with this first step in this direction, we try and correct the deficiencies we have.
“We also know that this upgrade is not going to change our life from one race to another. It’s the first step of many steps to come still.”
A calmer Ferrari would certainly be welcome for both drivers after a flurry of crashes in recent race weekends.
Though in terms of closing the gap to Red Bull, teammate Charles Leclerc conceded... "We are not expecting any big miracles, to be honest.
"From now on, we want to try and bring some small upgrades every race. This one should go in the right direction. But I don't think it will be a massive change.
"At the moment, we have an extremely peaky car that in qualifying, on one lap pace with new tyres, we know exactly how we need to drive the car, it's okay," he explained.
"But as soon as we go a little bit out of those conditions, the car loses so much downforce overall. So, we have been working a lot on that with this new car.
"This should help us to not gain that much performance, but to at least be a bit more consistent throughout the weekend. That hopefully will help us to have a better result on the Sunday."
