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Sainz: "Dramatic" issues in final races put “dark patch” on 2023 F1 season
Carlos Sainz had a disappointing weekend in Las Vegas due to a water valve incident and a 10-place grid penalty, ultimately finishing sixth. He also had a crash in FP2 in Abu Dhabi and started 16th after a poor Q1. Sainz took a gamble on two stints with hard tires, hoping for a safety car, but it didn’t pay off and he ended up out of the points. Despite these setbacks, Sainz described his season as decent and believes they have had a stronger year overall. However, he acknowledged that the last two races were a dark patch in his season and that the end of the season, which is typically his strongest, didn’t go as expected. Sainz expressed disappointment in losing the constructors’ championship by just three points to Mercedes and acknowledged that the team’s overall pace and feeling with the car wasn’t good. He explained that starting on harder compounds has been a struggle for Ferrari this year and the same was true in Abu Dhabi. Ultimately, a power unit issue forced him to retire, and he doesn’t believe it would have changed their result even if there had been a safety car.
