Carlos Sainz’s verdict on McLaren’s Dutch GP domination: “It’s depressing for all”

"Yeah but at least it's depressing for all, not just for Ferrari."

27 Aug 2024

Carlos Sainz has described McLaren’s dominant display at the Dutch Grand Prix on Sunday as “depressing for all” after Lando Norris stormed to an impressive F1 victory.

Norris claimed his second F1 victory by over 22 seconds, reducing Max Verstappen’s lead in the championship to 70 points with nine rounds to go.

It was akin to Red Bull’s dominance from earlier in the season as Norris had a comfortable weekend.

After a poor qualifying display from Ferrari, with Charles Leclerc 0.9s off pole position, while Sainz was out in Q2, the race proved to be surprisingly strong for the Italian outfit.

Leclerc fended off Oscar Piastri to finish on the podium and Sainz recovered to secure a top five finish.

Speaking after the race at Zandvoort, where Crash.net were in the paddock, Sainz pointed out that McLaren’s dominance must have been done to Norris delivering a “very solid weekend”.

“Yeah but at least it's depressing for all, not just for Ferrari,” he explained. “I guess at least we're not behind the Red Bull....also Red Bull and Mercedes. We managed to pass a Red Bull today, actually caught up with a McLaren during the race.

“Lando must have done a really solid weekend. We have to give praise for that, Oscar is P4 so it's not like only McLaren was in a different league, I think Lando must have done a very solid weekend.”

Ferrari’s woes since Monaco have been cured with bouncing remaining an issue for them.

As a result, they’re forced to compromise with the car setup to ensure the bouncing doesn’t occur.

Sainz is hopeful upgrades coming in the next races will help eradicate these problems.

“Not very compromised but a little bit,” he said. “I hope once we unlock or discover what is the actual thing that is generating this porpoising, which I feel like we're a step behind in understanding that.

“Hopefully with this new floor or new upgrades that we'll bring soon, these problems go away and we can just focus on adding downforce to the car.”