Carlos Sainz says he’s “not shocked in any respect” by Lewis Hamilton’s sluggish begin at Ferrari.
Hamilton has struggled to stand up to hurry along with his new workforce since making the swap from Mercedes.
Though Hamilton received the dash race in China, his begin to life at Ferrari has been largely disappointing.
Saudi Arabia was an actual battle for Hamilton, who completed over 30 seconds behind Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.
Hamilton admitted after the race that there’s no fast repair – and it might be a protracted season.
Sainz, who drove alongside Leclerc at Ferrari between 2021 and 2024, weighed in on Hamilton’s early difficulties at Ferrari.
“No, I’m not shocked in any respect,” Sainz mentioned in Miami, the place Crash.internet are current within the paddock. “I anticipated it for myself, and I anticipated it with him, as a result of on this sport, there aren’t any secrets and techniques.”
Sainz has gone by a equally troublesome adaptation course of at Williams, having made approach for Hamilton at Ferrari.
Nevertheless, Sainz has not too long ago made a breakthrough, out-qualifying Alex Albon within the final two occasions.
Sainz thinks that beating Leclerc or Albon, who’re well-embedded of their respective groups, was all the time going to be a tall order.
“If you end up up in opposition to two teammates like Alex and Charles, who know the workforce inside out and are already performing on the most, you possibly can solely perform a little bit higher or the identical as them,” Sainz added.
“You can not abruptly arrive and be two, three tenths faster as a result of it’s not potential, they’re already on the restrict of the automobile.
“So if you soar to a brand new workforce and also you’re anticipated by your self and by everybody round you to be at that degree, you recognize it’ll take time. They know much more than you, so it is going take a little bit of time and the earlier you make that course of and the earlier you’re at that degree the higher.
“However for some drivers, it’d take longer or shorter. Lewis had an incredible weekend in China then appeared to be having a bit extra bother now, however it’ll take time.”
Fashionable F1 automobiles are “significantly troublesome”
Sainz provided perception into how just one explicit driving model appears to work with this era of automobiles.
That’s in distinction to 2021 – earlier than the beginning of the ‘floor impact’ period – when drivers might stick with their very own model.
“It is advisable drive them in a really particular strategy to be fast,” Sainz defined. “The automobiles of 21, you could possibly are available in with two or three completely different driving types and roughly get to the identical lap time, as a result of the automobile would will let you get to that restrict in several methods.
“The extra I get to drive this era of automobiles, the extra I dig into the info, the extra I realise you must be closed loop to at least one driving model and when you do not drive in that approach, you are by no means going to be fast.
“It’s simply how the automobile interacts with you, which lets you drive in that particular approach that you must be sure you perceive. However it’s a superb level, I feel these automobiles are significantly troublesome.”
