The Spaniard’s fifth-place finish at last weekend’s second round of the Miami Grand Prix was unaffected by a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Meanwhile, team-mate Charles Leclerc – whose crash in Q3 triggered the red flag – finished seventh. Both drivers lamented the lack of speed on the hard Pirelli tires.

Leclerc’s lackluster performance and diversion came despite Ferrari’s tweaked floor, which both drivers initially reported made the SF-23’s handling “softer”.

But Sunday’s lack of pace led Sainz to say the car had “zero agility” and the pit stop acceleration would have damaged the tyres, preventing Ferrari from changing strategy mid-race.

Asked by Autosport whether the benefits of the revised floor carry over to the grand prix, Sainz said: “At the moment, I cannot push.

“Especially in races, once you push a lap, you go fast for one lap, and then the next lap you’re 0.3 seconds slower with very, very firm tires.

“That means we don’t have the flexibility to push forward or not to push forward, we just have to follow a certain pace to get to the end.

“I was surprised because I thought we were going to be better, but (Miami) showed us that we have some work to do.”

Ferrari SF-23 driver Carlos Sainz arrives at the grid

Photography: Mark Sutton/ motorsport pictures

The revised floor geometry improves airflow through the diffuser, leading Ferrari to a series of upgrades ahead of the summer break that will continue to arrive via Imola and Barcelona.

Reflecting on his performance in Miami, Sainz said: “Tough. I was a little surprised how much we struggled on the hard tyres, after the medium tyres.

“We tried the undercut with Fernando (Alonso, third). But by pushing the tire three or four laps to do the undercut, it means that for some reason now we have a car where we can push and not There is zero flexibility in how much to push.

“If I want to go to the end, I have to stay under the restraint for the rest of the game.

“How tough our tires are in windy conditions, this kind of hard work is too long for us.”

He added: “We opted for the undercut and it worked, it’s just that in hindsight with the car we have now, we have very little flexibility to try undercuts or overcuts.

“It’s more about our limitations. It’s hard to accept. It shows that we have a lot of work to do in terms of tire management and race pace.”