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2024 FIA Formula One World Championship
2024 Miami Grand Prix
Miami International Autodrome
Miami Gardens (Florida), USA
Sunday, 5 May 2024
Ferrari's Carlos Sainz admits they need to do better at the
Miami Grand Prix on Sunday, May 5 after missing out on the podium for the first time this year in Shanghai.
The Prancing Horse has made a promising start to the season after claiming five podiums in the opening five races, including a one-two in the Australian Grand Prix.
Sainz was forced to withdraw from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to appendicitis, but recovered from his surgery to win in Melbourne as he capitalised on Max Verstappen's early retirement.
The Spaniard's other podium finishes came in the Bahrain Grand Prix and the Japanese Grand Prix (both P3's) and he trails team-mate Charles Leclerc by seven points in the drivers' standings in fourth position.
Both he and Leclerc struggled in the Chinese Grand Prix after falling behind George Russell's Mercedes and Nico Hulkenberg's Haas on lap 1, while the Safety Car meant that Sainz was stuck on the hard tyres for an extended period.
"A bit of a tough race for us," he said. "First of all, I think we need to review the start because we had a strange line there through Turn 1, Turn 2, which meant that the Mercedes and the Haas passed both Charles and I, which cost us probably a bit of race time.
"Then the timing of the Safety Car wasn't ideal because everyone could put a new tyre [on] in front of me, and I was left with a very old tyre for the last stint and I had to nurse the tyre home for a P5. Considering all of this, I think P5 today was the maximum, so not too bad."
Commenting on McLaren's Lando Norris finishing ahead of the two Ferraris in P3, Sainz added: "I think this weekend they've been stronger, as simple as that. I think McLaren, in this kind of circuit, they've shown a better pace than us.
"On top of that, we qualified behind and we got in trouble in the first lap, then there's no chance we're going to beat them. We need to do better next time."
2024 Chinese Grand Prix results:
Winner: Max Verstappen - Red Bull Racing
Second Place: Lando Norris - McLaren
Third Place: Sergio Perez - Red Bull Racing
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