Carlos Sainz denies extra pressure from Ferrari competing at the front caused his error at Imola.
With the Scuderia looking for their first victory on home turf since 2019, the Spaniard took himself out of contention by crashing out in qualifying, resulting in a P10 start in the Sprint.
Though he recovered in the 100km race to start fourth in the Grand Prix, the moment at Rivazza 2 was particularly frustrating as it came a day after Ferrari announced a new two-year deal with Sainz.
“We are very happy with him, the way he has integrated into the team, the way he is performing,” said team boss Mattia Binotto as per The Race.
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“He has done a couple of mistakes, which are important, but nevertheless, I think he is improving himself, he is going faster and faster.
“I think it’s a matter of managing the pressure. It is maybe the first time in his career he has got a car which is fast enough to compete for the best positions and he simply needs to get used to that.
“But he will do it very quickly because I know how smart and how capable he is to manage the pressure.”
As for whether Ferrari might have rushed in extending Sainz’s contract, Binotto replied: “It was the right moment to look ahead. I think that renewing and extending it’s giving the right stability to the team as well.
“We know our drivers are confirmed to the end of 2024 and we can build on it.”
In response, however, Sainz argued the mistake was simply a result of testing the drying conditions in qualifying at Imola.
“I don’t think [the] mistake was pressure,” he told the media.
“I knew I had already done a very good banker lap to go to Q3. I was just trying out there, to try different lines, different balance.
“I’m still out there trying and hustling with the car to try and find my groove. I wasn’t actually pushing that much, and I made a mistake that in these [wet] conditions can happen.
“But you asked me, did I feel pressure? No, it was Q2. I was playing around with the car and made a mistake.”
Though Sainz recovered from P10 to finish P4 in the Sprint, his Sunday ended early on for the second straight race after being hit by Daniel Ricciardo at the first corner.
“Very painful,” he said of that moment. “I’m not going to hide it, it was a very negative day for me.
“It’s how it goes sometimes in sport, you have bad moments and [it] was definitely a low for me.
“I keep trying to learn from them and keep trying to make myself stronger from them. The important thing is that we bounced back solidly.”