Sainz: I’m still not as smooth as I’d like to be

The Ferrari F1-75 has been a revelation this season, and is proving to be Ferrari's ultimate weapon as the legendary team hope to enter their Title drought that is now over 13 years.

In the hands of Charles Leclerc, the car has scored two pole positions and two wins so far this season, and had it it not been for Leclerc's silly mistake towards the end of the 2022 Emilia Romagna Grand Prix resulting in a sixth place finish for the Monegasque, the car would have finished in the podium positions in all four races it competed in up to now.

On the the other side of the Ferrari garage, Sainz has struggled to understand the F1-75's handling and despite scoring second place in Bahrain and third in Saudi Arabia, he spun out of the race in Melbourne, and while crashing in Imola wasn't his fault, his crash in qualifying there was proof of his troubles.

Sainz drove an impressive recovery Sprint Race at Imola, finishing fourth from a tenth-position start, and was quoted by F1's official website saying: "I’m glad I look from the outside comfortable.

"On the inside, it’s not comfortable yet," he admitted. "I’m still not as smooth as I’d like to be, and mistakes like [in qualifying] prove that maybe I’m still not 100% happy with the car and understanding it fully.

"But I’m hustling out there," the 27-year-old Spaniard insisted.

"I’m trying my best to get it up to my liking, to change my driving – and mistakes are going to come when you’re challenging yourself like that," he expained.

Despite Sainz's tough weekend at the first of Ferrari's two home races this season (the second at Monza in September), the good news was that Ferrari announced that he will continue with them for two more seasons.

The eight-time-podium sitter is adamant there are "no magic weapons" that would help him get over his troubles with the car, and explained that needs to work on two fronts to get faster, adapting his driving to the car, and working with his team to get the car more to his liking.

“Honestly, I think it’s a combination of both," he said. "There are no magic weapons. You have to do something from your side as a driver, and I’m having to do techniques and driving that I’m not used to doing in order to be fast with this car.

"And at the same time, I need some testing and I need some free practices to try things and bring it more to my liking, and for that I need FP1s and FP2s.

"As soon as I find the balance that I like and the combination with my driving, I know I can be as fast as anyone out there," Sainz concluded.