Sainz: New Ferrari trickier to drive in Bahrain heat

Moving from Spain’s cool temperatures to Bahrain’s heat, Carlos Sainz says his new Ferrari F1-75 feels “trickier to drive”.

Hitting the track for the opening pre-season test in Bahrain, Ferrari once again showed themselves – if the timesheets are any indication – to be a potential contender.

The Scuderia finished second and third fastest with Sainz ahead of his team-mate Charles Leclerc, both drivers setting their best times on the C3 tyres compared to pace-setter Pierre Gasly’s C4 run.

With Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto saying before the test that the time has come to throw off the sandbags, Thursday’s times were a good start to the three-day outing for Ferrari.

But for Sainz it was by no means perfect.

The Spaniard joined an ever-growing list of drivers getting it wrong at Turn 10, the heat playing havoc with the cars which this year are 42kgs heavier than last year’s.

116 laps completed and we’re waving the chequered flag on day 1 of #F1Testing #essereFerrari pic.twitter.com/26OyO19g6O

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) March 10, 2022

“It feels, in Bahrain, let’s say, a bit worse than in Barcelona,” he said.

“Because it is a lot warmer and the tarmac has a lot less grip.

“It feels a lot trickier to drive in Bahrain than in Barcelona but this is normal, we have this every year.

“The car, in the corners, feels different to last year but it also feels like we are doing progress and we know better what to do after every lap.”

The Ferrari team-mates completed 116 laps on the day, their running slightly curtailed by two red flags.

“[It was] another good day of testing for us, continuing where we left off in Barcelona, with similar run plans but starting to check different set-up windows,” Sainz said.

“We missed out