Sainz noticed instant Ferrari improvement at Monza

Carlos Sainz noticed an instant improvement in the Ferrari SF-23 when he took the track for Italian Grand Prix practice.

The team struggled at the high-downforce Zandvoort circuit in the Dutch Grand Prix as F1 returned from the summer break, as Sainz only managed fifth place in the race while teammate Charles Leclerc retired with significant floor damage.

After fitting a lower downforce package to its car at Monza, the Scuderia's one-lap pace has shown improvement, with Sainz going fastest overall at the end of FP2 on the Soft tyre.

Sainz noticed the change when discussing their form on Friday with F1 TV: "It was a smooth day to be honest, it's great to be back on track like Monza and from the first lap of FP1 you want to feel our car normal again after such a difficult weekend in Zandvoort.

"As soon as we put the car on track here, for some reason, it just adapted a lot better and it was a lot easier to set up and drive.

"We had a smooth day, doesn't mean that we are going to be P1 [in qualifying] and in the race but at least the feeling is much better."

Leclerc looking for reset

Leclerc finished the session sixth fastest at the end of FP2, having went in a different direction to Sainz during the session.

"On my side I should've done a bit more on low fuel, which I think we [now] know what to do for [for qualifying]," he said.

"I went a bit in a different direction [than Carlos], so we need to reset a little bit and focus especially on the low fuel runs, as we were struggling more with the balance of the car."