Sainz urges Ferrari caution as upgrade 'doubt' to continue

Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari will not be fully able to examine its new F1 floor at the upcoming Azerbaijan and Singapore Grands Prix. 

A new upgrade package was introduced by Ferrari for the Italian GP, including a new floor and rear-wing aimed at combating the high-speed porpoising the Spanish GP upgrade brought to te SF-24.

Ferrari has made good steps forward in recent races, with Leclerc inheriting pole in Belgium, before taking third places at Spa and Zandvoort, before going onto win at Monza to leave Ferrari just 39 points behind Red Bull in the constructors'. 

However, given the outlier nature of Baku and Singapore as street tracks with kerb-riding and slow corners, Sainz feels a proper read of the upgrade must wait until the end of October.

"In Baku, there is not one single high-speed or medium-speed corner, it's low-speed, very particular like Singapore," Sainz told media including RacingNews365.

"We are not going to see how much we can push the car in high-speed corners [in Baku or Singapore.]

"We need more samples on this new floor, and we need to go to more normal tracks. 

"I guess the next normal one is Austin, because the tracks coming up are very particular with Baku and Singapore, and in Austin, we will be back to a more normal race track. 

"That will tell us how good we are with this new floor."

Leclerc echoes thoughts

Leclerc echoed his team-mates thoughts over not knowing where the package would stand up, and placed McLaren as the favourites for the remaining eight races.

"Our package was working pretty well on a track like Monza, but whether it will be the same for the rest of the season I doubt it," Leclerc added.

"I still think McLaren are the favourites but we have made a step forward for sure and Baku is a pretty nice track for me.

"I quite like the track and I've been quite competitive in the past, so who knows maybe we can achieve something special there again."