Sainz: Tyre degradation about as bad as last year

In 2022, Ferrari's SF-75 proved to be rapid in qualifying evident by the nine pole positions Charles Leclerc achieved in addition to three secured by Carlos Sainz. However, the races were a different story for Ferrari in 2022, as their SF-75 suffered from excessive tyre degradation that put them on the back foot when fighting Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

This big appetite for tyres by the SF-75, along with reliability problems and strategy errors, not to mention driver errors, meant Ferrari could not sustain a proper Title fight against Red Bull in 2022 finishing runner up.

While the Reds are adamant they addressed these problems over the winter break while developing their new SF-23, what we saw from the first race in Bahrain draws a different picture.

Reliability is still a problem as Leclerc retired on lap 41 of 57, and Sainz laboured with his tyre-shredding SF-23 to bring it home fourth losing out on the podium to Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, while the strategy department under the new head Ravin Jain who replaced Inaki Rueda is yet to be properly tested.

Asked to compare tyre degradation in 2023 compared to the previous season, Sainz told Motorspot.com: "It’s about as bad as it was last year.

"It’s just that the other two cars [Red Bull and Aston] for some reason found something that means they degrade half [as much]," he contemplated.

However Sainz is hopeful that the quality of the tarmac in Bahrain as well as the layout of the track means Ferrari's problems might have been aggravated.

"The Tarmac in Jeddah is very different," he pointed out. "The limitation is not so much at the rear. So, we’re pretty sure it’s going to be a bit different at other tracks.

"Bahrain is the most extreme for [degradation] of the year so we only have one example. I’m confident in other circuits we can play a better game but for Bahrain, it was our reality," the winner of one grand prix concluded.