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Sainz worried softer tyres could expose Ferrari

After struggling with tyre wear in France, Ferrari responded with a strong performance at the Styrian GP. Although Sunday's Austrian GP will take place at the same track, Carlos Sainz is worried Pirelli's choice of tyre compounds could cause the Scuderia some headaches.

Carlos Sainz and Ferrari bounced back with a strong showing at the Styrian GP, though the Spaniard is wary that the softer compounds Pirelli have made available for this weekend will cause the Scuderia problems. Ferrari finished out of the points at the French GP after severe tyre degradation saw them unable to keep up with their rivals. That wasn't the story last weekend in Austria, however with Pirelli providing softer compounds for the Austrian GP this weekend, Sainz thinks Ferrari's front tyre wear issues could crop up again. "At the moment, the softer we go the more exposed we are with our front tyre troubles that we normally have," Sainz told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "We know we have this issue at pretty much every circuit, it's just that some circuits we don't quite feel it and at others it's very obvious like Paul Ricard or Portimao. "The softer we go, the higher the risk for us of suffering. At the same time, we're still going to do our homework on Friday to try and learn from the compounds, along with these new rear construction that is coming from Pirelli. "As you can imagine, it's a very high priority in our test items to understand the tyres." Looking back at the Styrian GP, Sainz was pleased with the upturn in Ferrari's form as the team have been hard at work trying to resolve their tyre woes. However the Spaniard believes the characteristics of the Red Bull Ring also played a factor. "It was great news for us for sure because we had a massive performance swing in the race between Paul Ricard and Austria," Sainz added. "We've been working very hard at it, but I do think it's also related to track characteristics. "In Austria you suffer a lot more with the rear than with the front, and we know our main limitation right now is the front. At the same time on Friday, we focused a lot of our efforts in trying to set up the car for long run pace, trying to learn a lot about the tyres doing extremely long runs on on the softer compounds. "It looked like it also helped us to arrive, certainly a bit more prepared to the race and with clear ideas of what to do, what not to do, and, and all that."

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