Sainz points to twin factors behind Ferrari's qualifying shocker

Carlos Sainz has pointed to the two factors he feels are responsible for Ferrari's shock double Q2 exit at the Canadian Grand Prix. 

Heading into the Montreal weekend, Ferrari were considered favourites, with Lando Norris even applying that tag to Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc, but the SF-24 machines have not proved quick. 

A lack of brand-new tyres in Q2 meant both Leclerc and Sainz were dumped in Q2, and will start 11th and 12th at best, with the duo having started first and third last time out in Monaco. 

Leclerc felt he "didn't have an explanation for now," but that he "felt something was wrong and we couldn't see what was wrong" in FP3. 

But Sainz has lifted the lid on where he felt the Scuderia was lacking.

"We are a bit surprised because since FP3, we saw that we were slow and that the weekend was going to be a long one," Sainz told media including RacingNews365.

"You never expect to go from fighting for the win and pole position to being out in Q2, but this is Formula 1 and I've seen worse things happen - and we will go back and analyse what happened.

"Right now, we are lacking grip and our ride does not look as good as it did in Monaco - so for those two reasons, a lack of grip/warm-up and the ride, everything seems trickier in Canada than in Monaco.

"There are two or three factors that could spice the race up, which is the weather and the graining. There was a lot of graining in FP2, and mixed weather coming [for the race], so these two things hopefully will make the race chaotic and we can move forward."

Ferrari's performance in Monaco, coupled with Red Bull's struggles had given rise to the hope of the Scuderia mounting a title challenge, but Sainz put former team McLaren in the best position of the leading teams - as he also pondered if Ferrari had made a mistake with its set-up.

"Everyone is a bit up and down so far this year, and maybe the most consistent team right now is McLaren, since Miami, at every track, they've been fighting for pole.

"They're two-hundredths off, which is almost pole and apart from them, we need to understand if there is a problem with the tyres, we didn't switch them on, or if it is just simply a mistake in the way that we are running the car this weekend."