Carlos Sainz has trust in Ferrari to address their lack of engine performance as he prepares to join in 2021.
Last weekend, the straights of Spa-Francorchamps highlighted the loss of power the Italian team has suffered this season, with Charles Leclerc losing 0.9s in Sectors 1 & 3 compared to his pole time at the same circuit a year ago.
That lack of top speed meant Ferrari barely get both cars into Q2 in qualifying and suffered their worst race result with both cars finishing since Silverstone 2010 in 13th and 14th.
So naturally, the reporters on the ground were keen to get Sainz’s reaction on the plight his future team is currently facing.
“I’m going to be honest, of course I want [to see Ferrari find more power],” said the Spaniard, who retired pre-race on Sunday with engine issues of his own.
“I’ll be the first one there in the factory pushing to find more power and I’m pushing everyone as soon as I get there.
“They need to do a very, very big step in order to get back to where we all are but I think if a team can do it, it is Ferrari.
“Ferrari has a lot of resources, a lot of power benches, so I’m sure they are all there at the factory working extremely hard to get the power that they’ve lost from one year to the other. It’s a long way.”
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Speaking to The Race, Sainz suggested Ferrari could take some reassurances from the gains made by other manufacturers in recent years.
“Ferrari is the first one that is not happy right now, and we could see clearly today [Saturday] how much they struggled,” he added.
“But I think they’ve struggled with a bit more than just the engine, they also had problems with the overall grip of the car.
“But in general I would say that, yes, they need a very big step on the engine. I know how tough it is because it took Renault a few years, it’s taken Honda quite a long time also.
“But the fact that Renault is nearly there, close to Mercedes, shows that you can do it.
“I’m sure the factory now is working flat out and hopefully by the time I get there they’ve improved a bit and then together we can do the next step.”
Commenting on the engine situation, Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto made some positive noises on the work going on at Maranello.
“The engine is frozen for this season, so there’s nothing we can do on that,” he noted.
“We are developing it for next year. It’s progressing well on the dyno at the moment, so that’s one side of the plan for us.
“The main plan is focusing on the next seasons, not just 2021, but certainly as well on 2022. In order to do well in the next seasons, we are going to try to understand the weaknesses of today and make sure we are the best we can be.”
