Sainz finished second in his home race, but as in previous races, the Ferrari’s relatively poor pace left him behind and his Ferrari struggled in the bumpy and fast nature of the Barcelona track as It is surpassed by Mercedes in tire management.

After the first early stint, Sainz switched from the soft to the hard tyre, allowing Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton to easily pass him later on the fresher, faster medium tyre.

Team-mate George Russell also followed Hamilton to claim the Mercedes double behind runaway leader Max Verstappen, while Sainz was beaten by Sergio Perez’s second Red Bull in the closing stages. down to fifth, which started at 11th.

While Sainz was losing ground, his team-mate Charles Leclerc struggled to make progress on his pit lane start to finish 11th.

Sainz said the race exposed Ferrari’s tendency to grind tires, a recurring problem exacerbated by Barcelona’s many high-speed right-handers who struggled in the left front corner.

“Honestly, I managed the tires the whole race because we knew we were tough on them and on this high track, I just couldn’t push,” Sainz said.

“We knew it was a weak point in our car and when we were on a hot track and two races we were just managing the whole way, trying to hit the target laps and still not hitting the target laps in some of those laps.

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23, Lance Walk, Aston Martin AMR23, Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14

Photography: Andy Horn / motorsport pictures

“The weakness of our car is on full display in fast corners like this and our tires are struggling. But it also shows that we must have done a pretty good lap yesterday.

“I think it was like that again today, kind of going back to the current pace of racing in the car, yes, maybe this kind of track is not very good for us.”

Ferrari’s racing pace has suffered after a comprehensive upgrade this weekend, including improved sidepods.

Sainz praised his team for fast-tracking the updates, arguing that Ferrari just hasn’t been able to take advantage of them as it brings new components to its “weakest track” so far in 2023.

“It’s hard to say,” he replied when asked if the update had the desired effect.

“I know the factory has put a lot of effort into bringing them in. Probably because of the characteristics of the track, we’ve taken them to the weakest track of the season. So we may not have seen the best of them yet.

“I still believe we’ll never be very competitive here because of our bounce and high-speed weaknesses.

“So, it’s too early to tell, but I think they’ve worked really hard to make it happen, so hats off to all the factories, let’s keep going, let’s keep improving.”