Carlos Sainz is struggling to adjust under the “ultimate pressure situation in Formula 1” at Ferrari, Nico Rosberg claims.
While teammate Charles Leclerc has won two of the first three races and opened up a healthy lead in the championship, the Spaniard has been unable to match him and has made some errors at bad moments.
The latest one was a crash into the barriers at the final corner during qualifying at Imola on Friday, which means Sainz will start P10 in the Saturday Sprint.
“It’s frustrating. The target was to put a banker lap in knowing the rain would come,” he explained. “It’s clear the track conditions were very tough.
Agony for Sainz ?#ImolaGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/6NtDKdsjdS
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“I lost the rear entering the last corner, maybe it was starting to rain, maybe it was the tyres after doing two consecutive laps. I don’t know.
“Unfortunately I lost it for some reason, I didn’t have any warning that I was going to lose it, and it just went.
“I need to understand it because I don’t think I was exposing myself to a mistake by driving like that,” he insisted. “I wasn’t pushing really that hard at all, but the car surprised me in that corner.”
That error came not only in front of Ferrari’s fanatical Tifosi at Imola but also just two days after a new two-year contract extension was announced keeping Sainz at the Scuderia until 2024.
“This is a very tough one to take and there is little to say other than sorry to the entire team and every fan out there,” he conceded. “It’s a difficult moment, but now it’s time to focus on what is ahead.
“Thinking positively, the weekend is not over yet and I still have the Sprint race and the Grand Prix on Sunday to try to recover.”
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Sainz’s poor form though has been surprising given his performances in recent years, including outscoring Leclerc in his first year at Ferrari in 2021.
However, Rosberg believes there is a key difference this season that Carlos has struggled to adapt to.
“Being in a Ferrari and fighting for race wins and championships all of a sudden is the ultimate pressure situation in Formula 1 – it doesn’t get tougher than that really, mentally,” the German told Sky Sports F1.
“Maybe we’re seeing him having some difficulties with adjusting to that situation, especially having Leclerc, who is on fire at the moment and is performing so incredibly well.
“He [Sainz] needs to figure that out and, of course, use those mistakes going forward, this has been a terrible start to the season so far, including this [qualifying crash].”