“There’s something strange going on” - Carlos Sainz puts aside Ferrari’s promising Friday over tire behavior in qualifying

Carlos Sainz was puzzled by the behavior of the tires on his Ferrari during qualifying ahead of the 2024 Singapore GP. Speaking to media, including Sportskeeda, the Ferrari driver said Friday’s free practice sessions were not reflective of their true pace.

Ferrari had been competitive, alongwith McLaren, in practice, positioning them as potential pole contenders. However, Sainz felt that the free practice data can sometimes be misleading, citing a change in tire behavior that contributed to their drop in performance during qualifying. He noted there was only a tenth of a second difference between the fastest laps in FP3 and Q3, suggesting that poor tire preparation hampered their ability to improve lap times.

Asked by Sportskeeda how Ferrari’s competitive form faded in qualifying or if there was a change in tire behavior between Friday and Saturday, Sainz said:

“I don't like considering Friday too much because you don't know what the others are doing and I never try to take too many conclusions from that. You can already see in FP3, Lando went a second quicker than FP2. That shows that there was something that they were sandbagging with, and even in Q3 they did only went one-tenth quicker than FP3, which is quite weird.

"So there's something strange going on probably with the tire preparation and how much you can extract this weekend with the tires, because it's not normal that there's only one-tenth between FP3 fastest lap and Q3.”

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Carlos Sainz rues grip issues that caused accident in 2024 Singapore GP qualifying

Carlos Sainz believes grip issues hampered his final attempt in the qualifying session. He noted that his tires were too cold, causing a lack of grip throughout the lap. The Ferrari driver lost control as the rear of his car snapped, sending him into the barriers and bringing out the red flags with eight minutes remaining. Due to the incident, Sainz will start tenth on the grid, as the significant damage to his car prevented him from returning to the session.

Asked about his accident in the qualifying session, Sainz said:

“A bit of a strange accident there, had to let a lot of cars through there, opening my lap and my tires were just a lot colder than I thought they would be. I missed the grip going on the bump on 17 and it completely snapped on me. It was a driver mistake and I underestimated the grip I would get.

"Launching the lap, I was already under pressure with another car coming. And I knew that launching the lap, I was already going to be slower because of the approach in the last corner so slow. So it meant that I tried to do something that was not enough grip to do.”

In terms of qualifying pace, the Ferrari drivers are well-positioned on the grid to make gains during the race. Unlike Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc attempted a final lap in the session, but it was deleted due to a track limits violation. As a result, the Monegasque will start ninth, completing the fifth row of the grid. Currently third in the constructors’ championship, Ferrari is in a position to overtake Red Bull for second place.