Carlos Sainz explains why Ferrari opted against Austin upgrades

Standing as an outlier as the only one of the top teams not bringing a big upgrade package to Austin, Carlos Sainz says the United States GP is about “confirming” whether the new parts they brought to the SF-24 previously are working.

Formula 1 returns to the track this weekend with the United States Grand Prix where championship contenders Red Bull and McLaren will both reportedly debut new floors.

Carlos Sainz: Nothing new here

For McLaren, it will be the first new floor since Miami, while for Red Bull they’re looking to recover the RB20’s balance having taken a misstep with the Hungarian GP parts.

Mercedes will also have new parts for the W15 as they look to reel in Ferrari in the race for third place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Ferrari though stand apart as the only one of the top teams not updating their car in Austin.

Sainz explained the decision, saying: “Nothing new here, it’s what we brought in Monza. And I think we brought a small upgrade in the front wing for Singapore.

“But yeah it’s confirming whether our better pace in the last three races is coming more from going to three tracks that really suited us, like Monza, Baku, and Singapore, or whether it’s also the upgrades having a big effect on whether we were more competitive in those three tracks.

“And Austin will be able to tell us which one of the two it is.”

F1 2024: Team-mate head-to-head stats

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

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

Ferrari have secured a win and a P2 in the three races with Charles Leclerc winning in Monza before finishing runner-up to Oscar Piastri in Baku.

Moving onto 441 points in the Constructors’ Championship, the Scuderia are in with a shot at winning the title as they trail McLaren by 75 points with six races remaining.

Sainz reckons Austin will let them know whether they genuinely can fight for the title.

“I think the more tracks that we’ve done since Monza, the more confident we are that the upgrades that we brought to the car start to work pretty much everywhere,” said Sainz.

“But for me, I always said, no, with the last three races, I said, until we don’t go to Austin and we try them in a normal track, we will not be able to measure how much we’ve actually improved in tracks like Zandvoort, Spa, where we last struggled a bit more.

“So I think this will be the most important test so far for us to see whether all these upgrades that we brought in the past are working in the right direction for more of a normal kind of track like we see here in Austin.”

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