Carlos Sainz was ‘surprised’ by the gap between Red Bull and Ferrari at the Bahrain Grand Prix, journalist Juan Fossaroli says.
Reigning world champions Red Bull started the season with a dominant one-two in Sakhir as Sainz completed the podium in third.
Fossaroli says the Spaniard expected the Scuderia to be closer to the Milton Keynes outfit at the season-opening event.
Max Verstappen, who has won the last three championships, finished more than 22 seconds clear of the chasing pack.
Sainz was at least able to apply some pressure to second-place Sergio Perez, who less than three seconds clear at the flag.
Perez drove the final stint on faster but less durable soft tyres, with Sainz on the hards.
The Ferrari driver hoped that he could catch the Mexican as his rubber degraded, but Perez hung on.
Carlos Sainz thought Ferrari would be more of a match for Red Bull
Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, Fossaroli says Sainz was shocked to see Verstappen so far up the road.
He can, however, take solace from the fact that he was able to make a late push towards one of the RB20 cars.
“Carlos was a little bit surprised about the gap, especially with Max,” Fossaroli said (27:05). “With Checo, he was very close, and fighting with a Red Bull.
“The highlight for him was at least trying to catch up on one Red Bull, but he was more happy about the performance of the car compared to last year.”
Sainz feels he can attack in new Ferrari
Sainz says that last year’s Ferrari struggled to cope in dirty air behind other cars, but is hopeful he can be more ‘aggressive’ in this year’s challenger.
He feels that the SF-24’s comfort at one of the most tyre-limited races of the year bodes well for the upcoming rounds.
Martin Brundle reckons that the 29-year-old didn’t maximise the full potential of his car in Friday’s qualifying session.
Sainz, who lined up two spots behind teammate Charles Leclerc in fourth, will hope he can attack Verstappen from a stronger grid position in Jeddah this weekend.
The post ‘A little bit surprised’: Carlos Sainz was left shocked by performance of one team in Bahrain - journalist appeared first on F1 Oversteer.