Carlos Sainz makes new pace prediction as Ferrari fall behind in F1 2024 pecking order

Carlos Sainz laments Ferrari are losing the development war against not only Red Bull and McLaren, but also Mercedes to fall to fourth in the pecking order.

In the midst of a season in which Red Bull’s rivals have made inroads into their advantage, Ferrari started well only to make a misstep with their Spanish Grand Prix upgrade.

Carlos Sainz admits Ferrari have been ‘out-developed’ by rivals

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Putting a heavily revised SF-24 on the track, the upgrade created issues with bouncing in the high-speed corners which forced Ferrari to roll back on three months of development.

That’s cost them on the track and in the standings as their modified Hungarian Grand Prix floor only went some way towards negating the bouncing.

Sitting 73 points behind Red Bull, Ferrari now also trail McLaren by 21 with the Woking team on a 10-race top-three streak while Mercedes, having won three of the last four races, are closing at a rapid pace.

Sainz reckons Ferrari has been “out-developed” by the trio with McLaren making notable gains with their Miami updates, after which Mercedes unlocked the W15’s potential with their Monaco changes.

“In the end, what is clear is that we don’t have the pace of McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes,” the Spaniard told the media including PlanetF1.com.

“As a team we had a very strong start, and the last few races have been a bit tougher.

“In general, I feel like we have been a bit out-developed by our main competitors, but at the same time, there’s still a second half where we can be a lot more competitive and we’re working hard for that.”

The 2024 Ferrari team-mate head-to-head battle

?F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

?F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Carlos Sainz urges Ferrari to improve the SF-24 to ‘stay in the game’

Lamenting that Ferrari are now, at best, the third if not fourth fastest team on the track, Sainz pointed to Mercedes’ recent wins as cause for concern.

The Brackley squad has featured on the podium in every one of the last six races, three of those coming from victories that have meant they’ve outscored Ferrari by 170 points to 93 since Charles Leclerc’s Monaco Grand Prix victory.

“It’s clear now with Mercedes when it comes to these kinds of tracks like Silverstone or here, they are very competitive and they’re quicker,” Sainz said.

“Now it’s time for us to put our heads down and try to develop this car to try and get back to not only fighting back with Mercedes but those two or three-tenths that Red Bull and McLaren have on us.”

“I think it’s clear to me that we are the third or fourth fastest team,” he continued.

“Our direct competitor now, Mercedes, has won a lot of races recently and Red Bull and McLaren we know they are quicker also, so we need to improve the car for the next segment to make sure we stay in the game.”

The run-in to the 2024 chequered flag begins with the Dutch Grand Prix on August 25 and marks the countdown to Sainz’s Ferrari exit with the Spaniard off to Williams next season.

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