Ferrari’s strategy gains in 2024 are “purely down to the car”

Any improvement Ferrari appears to have made with its strategies this year are down to its car being more competitive, says Carlos Sainz Jnr.

Both Ferrari drivers finished higher than they started in Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix. However Sainz believes this was not because the team made better tactical calls, but because the SF-24 manages its tyres better over a stint.

“I think we’ve made progress on strategy over the last three years, progressively, but if you see a jump this year on strategy, it’s purely down to the car,” he said. “Having a car that allows you to have flexibility on strategy is something that last year we couldn’t have.

“We were boxed in to stop at certain laps. We couldn’t extend [our stints]. We had so much deg that it looked always like people could extend and then come back on us on a harder tyre.

“Last year, we were just zero flexible and we couldn’t do anything… So it looked like we were not getting the strategy right a lot of times.

“But when you have a car that is better on tyres, two drivers that can push on the car more often and you have that extra flexibility, your strategy also looks better. I’m not underestimating the progress we’ve done, it’s just I really think this helps a lot.”

Ferrari were criticised for several of their tactical calls during the 2022 season, many of which struck Sainz’s team mate Charles Leclerc. He missed potential wins after leading in Monaco, Silverstone and the Hungaroring that year and was badly disadvantaged during qualifying at Interlagos.

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After that season Frederic Vasseur replaced Mattia Binotto in charge of the team and overhauled the team’s strategy division. The changes included promoting Ravin Jain to chief strategist in place of Inaki Rueda.

In the three races Sainz has started this year, he has won once and finished the other two only behind the two Red Bull drivers. His strong results have come at a useful time as he is without a contract for next year, but he said any apparent improvement in his performance is also down to the car.

“We just simply improved the car. People might think I’m in a better moment driving and everything, but the reality is just in Formula 1, a car is very important.

“Also this year, I’m in a very good moment. I’m driving at a high level, but at the same time, having a car that just allows you to go a bit longer, allows you to be a bit closer in dirty air and play…