Ferrari’s F1 reliability dramas just a ‘bump in the road’ says Sainz
Ferrari’s recent reliability woes should be viewed as just ‘a bump in the road’ of its Formula 1 recovery, says Carlos Sainz.


The Maranello squad has squandered a strong championship lead earlier in the season to hand the advantage to its chief opposition Red Bull.
Despite having a consistently quick car, engine failures for early championship leader Charles Leclerc in Spain and Azerbaijan, plus strategy errors in Monaco, have resulted in valuable points slipping through his fingers.
While the recent disappointments have put Ferrari on the back foot against its main rival, the team’s drivers remain calm about the situation.
And for Sainz in particular, Ferrari’s situation needs to be seen in context of a team that delivered more than it was probably expecting early on.
“You cannot avoid the fact that we were coming into the season aiming to be competitive again and we managed to exceed even our own expectations by being so competitive,” he said, when asked by Motorsport.com about Ferrari's reaction to its recent troubles.
“That put us into the championship fight. But we need to remember it is our first year back. We've done a massive step on the engine on power, we've done a massive step in understanding these regulations and we are still quite new into getting back into this fight.
“We're suffering recently with some reliability issues but, for me, it's fine if it's going to happen in the rebuilding process of the team and especially when you make such a big step on the engine.”

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari F1-75
Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images
He added: “When you realise where we are coming from, and the step we've managed to do this year, all of a sudden, it doesn't look that bad. We are just having a bump in the road.”
With Ferrari having not got too carried away with its early season success, Leclerc says the team has also not let itself get too emotional with its recent poor results.
“I think the calmness is still the same,” he told Autosport. “I think it's fundamental that we keep this calm, because it's the thing that made us get back to those winning days.
“It's obviously a tough time for the team now, after the last three races and the problems that we've had. We need to be calm, but obviously also aware that it is an issue that we need to fix as quickly as possible. But I think we find the right balance.”
Leclerc said that the team’s ability to cope with the recent disappointments was also made easier because it had such a competitive car.
He added: “We are aware of the pace there is in the car. So in this, we find a confidence.
“We know that obviously reliability has been a problem in the last three races, but the performance is there. So we know that whenever we fix those issues, we'll be right there fighting with Red Bull for the championship.
“I'm confident with this team, because they are giving 200% as always, obviously, and I'm sure that once we fix our issues, we'll be able to catch back Red Bull.”

How the FIA’s F1 porpoising clampdown will really work
How F1's ingenious ignition revolution brought an instant power boost

Latest news
Could late rule changes to F1 2023 floors aid bigger teams?
The FIA World Motor Sport Council finally pushed through rule changes to address porpoising for the 2023 Formula 1 season, amid suggestions the late alterations will help bigger teams.
Magnussen still 'pinching myself' about Haas F1 comeback
Kevin Magnussen says he has gained a new appreciation for the privilege of being a Formula 1 driver over the course of his 2022 comeback season.
Wolff: Mercedes bounced "from depression to exuberance" in "painful" F1 season
Toto Wolff says the ranging emotions through Mercedes’ Formula 1 season so far has been “painful” at times, bouncing from “depression to exuberance” through its 2022 car struggles.
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
The inconvenient truth about F1’s ‘American driver’ dream
OPINION: The Formula 1 grid's wait for a new American driver looks set to continue into 2023 as the few remaining places up for grabs - most notably at McLaren - look set to go elsewhere. This is despite the Woking outfit giving tests to IndyCar aces recently, showing that the Stateside single-seater series still has some way to go to being seen as a viable feeder option for F1
How a bad car creates the ultimate engineering challenge
While creating a car that is woefully off the pace is a nightmare scenario for any team, it inadvertently generates the test any engineering department would relish: to turn it into a winner. As Mercedes takes on that challenge in Formula 1 this season, McLaren’s former head of vehicle engineering reveals how the team pulled of the feat in 2009 with Lewis Hamilton
The under-fire F1 driver fighting for his future
Personable, articulate and devoid of the usual racing driver airs and graces, Nicholas Latifi is the last Formula 1 driver you’d expect to receive death threats, but such was the toxic legacy of his part in last year’s explosive season finale. And now, as ALEX KALINAUCKAS explains, he faces a battle to keep his place on the F1 grid…
The strange tyre travails faced by F1’s past heroes
Modern grand prix drivers like to think the tyres they work with are unusually difficult and temperamental. But, says MAURICE HAMILTON, their predecessors faced many of the same challenges – and some even stranger…
The returning fan car revolution that could suit F1
Gordon Murray's Brabham BT46B 'fan car' was Formula 1 engineering at perhaps its most outlandish. Now fan technology has been successfully utilised on the McMurtry Speirling at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, could it be adopted by grand prix racing once again?
Hamilton's first experience of turning silver into gold
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion has been lumbered with a duff car before the 2022 Mercedes. Back in 2009, McLaren’s alchemists transformed the disastrous MP4-24 into a winning car with Lewis Hamilton at the wheel. And now it’s happening again at his current team, but can the rate of progress be matched this year?
Why few could blame Leclerc for following the example of Hamilton’s exit bombshell
OPINION: Ferrari's numerous strategy blunders, as well as some of his own mistakes, have cost Charles Leclerc dearly in the 2022 Formula 1 title battle in the first half of the season. Though he is locked into a deal with Ferrari, few could blame Leclerc if he ultimately wanted to look elsewhere - just as Lewis Hamilton did with McLaren 10 years prior
The other McLaren exile hoping to follow Perez's path to a top F1 seat
After being ditched by McLaren earlier in his F1 career Sergio Perez fought his way back into a seat with a leading team. BEN EDWARDS thinks the same could be happening to another member of the current grid