After losing out to both Red Bulls at the Belgian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz gave a summary of the problems Ferrari faced in the race. Following a grid penalty for Red Bull's Max Verstappen's after qualifying, the Ferrari driver inherited pole position for the Belgian GP, and started the race ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez. Despite leading the initial getaway and the early Safety Car restart, Sainz was eventually passed by the resurgent Verstappen and Perez, and appeared unable to compete with the pace of Red Bull. Such was the drop-off in Sainz's pace, he was almost challenged by Mercedes' George Russell, but survived the late pressure to take third.
Sainz: Tyres issue hampered Ferrari's race
Speaking immediately after the race, Sainz believed that most of Ferrari's issues came from excessive tyre degradation, and that the Red Bull team were in a "different league". "Unfortunately, it was harder than expected. We got a good start, I got a good restart after the Safety Car, but the pace was just not there," he said. "We had a lot of overheating on the tyres, we were sliding around a lot. "The first two laps were strong but then we immediately went into high degradation and then I realised that we were degrading more than what we should. "Red Bull, Max and Checo were in a league of their own today and, unfortunately, we couldn't put up a stronger fight and we had to survive. "We will have to learn why we were not so competitive at this track."
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