Sainz reveals why Ferrari has been so strong in Austin and Mexico City

On the back of his impressive performance in the qualifying session at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has revealed that the track characteristics is the main reason for the Scuderia’s current form.

It was not surprising to see many drivers struggle to get to grips with the tricky track in yesterday’s qualifying session in Mexico City as the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez poses a unique set of challenges due its unusual altitude.

While McLaren’s Lando Norris excelled in the opening stages of qualifying, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz caused a surprise in Q3, displaying impressive speed in the all-important last qualifying segment. The Spaniard completed two flying runs in Q3 and both of them would have been good enough to grab pole.

Sainz started from pole for the last time back in Singapore in 2023 which means that his achievement in yesterday’s qualifying was his first pole position this year.

Asked to explain why Ferrari has been so impressive in Austin and Mexico, the Spaniard said that while the upgrades have contributed to the current form, the track characteristics have played into the hands of the Scuderia.

“I think the upgrades are helping for sure. I think the circuit characteristic is a very important factor. I don’t expect to be on pole in Qatar, just given how weak we are in high-speed.

“But in the low-speed, how tight the corners are, and how good we are in kerbing around Mexico, I said that we had a good chance and it’s been like that. And also I try honestly to be as realistic and as honest as possible with you guys when I talk about our prospects to each race.

“I don’t know, I left Singapore with a really strange feeling with the mistake I did in qualifying, with how tricky it was for us to switch on the tyres, how one session we could be P1, the next session we were one second off Lando, and I was like, I need to find something, because it cannot be that from one session to another we have a six, eight tenths swing on tyre performance over one lap.

“I worked during the three weeks to see how can we make it a bit better in quali and then we can fight in the race with a good race pace that the car has,” concluded Sainz.