Leclerc and Sainz started the race in sixth and seventh place. But they lost positions to George Russell and Nico Hulkenberg at the first corner.
Leclerc had trouble with his tires being cold and pushed Sainz wide in the second corner. Then, they both had to fight to regain their lost positions.
Sainz explained, “What happened at the start cost both Charles and me a few positions, and that affected our race a lot.”
They tried to catch up with Russell, but he was difficult to pass. Leclerc managed to pass him on lap 9, but Sainz had to wait until Russell pitted to get past him.
Sainz continued, “In the last part of the race, I had to drive carefully to make the tires last, but we still managed to finish fifth, which was the best we could do.”
Ferrari was expected to perform well in Shanghai, but they struggled with the harder tires.
Sainz said, “We weren’t very fast this weekend. When you start in sixth and seventh place, it shows that the car doesn’t have enough speed.”
He added, “We need to check if we did everything we could with the car’s setup. If not, we need to work on it because this type of track didn’t suit us well.”
During the sprint race earlier in the weekend, Leclerc and Sainz had a disagreement about their positions on the track. Leclerc felt Sainz defended his position too aggressively. They discussed it internally and resolved the issue.
Sainz is currently a free agent for the 2025 F1 season. He will leave Ferrari at the end of the season because Lewis Hamilton will join the team.
