Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari has made a breakthrough in performance, with his car “coming alive” during the 2024 United States Grand Prix qualifying session. The Spaniard secured third place on the grid, outpacing his teammate Charles Leclerc, as Ferrari locked out the second row behind Lando Norris and Max Verstappen.
Sainz’s impressive showing followed a strong Sprint race performance, where he charged to second place. He expressed confidence in Ferrari’s updates, hailing the team’s newfound pace as the “biggest positive” of the weekend.
Though Sainz was satisfied with his position, he couldn’t help but wonder what might have been if George Russell’s crash hadn’t brought Q3 to an early end. On his second flying lap, Sainz felt he was on pace to challenge Norris and Verstappen but was ultimately denied the chance to improve.
“Yeah, definitely, obviously everyone can say the same, no? Lando deserves to be on pole. Max deserves to be second. I deserve to be third because they did a better job in the first run,” Sainz said. “But that second lap, I don’t know what changed… the car came alive and we were coming with a very fast lap.”
Sainz’s optimism wasn’t solely based on qualifying. Ferrari’s pace throughout the weekend, particularly during the Sprint race, gave the team confidence that they had closed the gap to rivals McLaren and Red Bull. Sainz noted that Ferrari’s competitiveness on both short and long runs indicated significant progress with the SF-24, which had struggled at recent traditional circuits like Zandvoort and Spa.
“For me, that’s the biggest positive so far of the weekend,” Sainz said. “The last normal track was, let’s say, more Zandvoort, Spa, and there we were clear two to four tenths off from a McLaren or a Mercedes. And this weekend, it seems like maybe in quali we don’t have the edge to fight for them. But the reality is that this weekend we’re in the fight.”
However, despite the strong Sprint race pace, Sainz cautioned against complacency heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix, noting that the longer race with full fuel loads could present different challenges.
“The race is going to be very long… So what we might have seen in the last stint of the race might not be the same as the hundred and something kilos that we put on the car going into Sunday,” he said. “But one good thing is that we had a good reference from the Sprint.”
Sainz expects a close battle at the front, acknowledging that rivals would have worked to address their issues, particularly the front graining that affected many drivers in the Sprint. With Ferrari showing solid pace and Sainz optimistic about their chances, Sunday’s race promises to be a thrilling showdown between Ferrari, McLaren, and Red Bull.
As Ferrari aims to capitalize on its progress, the question remains: can they turn this promising pace into a race win at Circuit of the Americas?
