Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have reported contrasting feelings with the SF-23 after Friday of the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix weekend. The Italian squad looked settled after testing in Bahrain, albeit a little step behind pace-setters Red Bull and Max Verstappen. However, during Friday practice in Sakhir, Sainz was 20th and 14th with Leclerc fifth and fourth in the two sessions. While the Leclerc was happy with his set-up and the feeling of the car, Sainz could not say the same.
Sainz on Ferrari's Friday
"Simply, the car is not responding as I expect, or as it did in testing," Sainz explained to media on a day he suffered a high-speed spin in FP1 at Turn 9. "I'm struggling a bit with the balance, and it's a bit more out of place compared to where it was [in testing], but we're having a good look at it - and expect to put it back together for tomorrow. "We were just testing some things on the car, trying to finalise a few things that we wanted to try in FP1, scrubbing the medium tyres which we wanted to get rid off and use the softs in the night session. "It didn't go to plan, it clearly wasn't intentional, but it was a test that went wrong."
Leclerc's positivity
"Let's say that the feeling is better than testing on my side," said Leclerc, opposing his teammate's views. "Testing was very, very inconsistent in the way we ran the car because we're testing loads of things, so I didn't have much time to pick the car to my liking, which I did today, and I think that went really well. "On the other hand, it seems that, again, what we thought was confirmed, that Red Bull is quite a bit ahead. "Compared to everyone, Aston Martin seems very strong, too. So let's wait and see for now we need to focus on ourselves, try to gain a bit of performance overnight, and hopefully have a great qualifying."
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