Sainz and Alonso, in the labyrinth: Why, all of a sudden, these steps back?

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The thousands of

gathered at the Collina della Passione were left with the desire to repeat the collective hysteria of 2006, the last time that Imola had hosted, with all its capacity, an F1 race.

That victory by

yesterday gave way to the abandonment of

and the resounding error of

but this disappointment did not discourage the parishioners, who crossed the finish line to comfort their idols.

Or to receive his apologies, that there was everything.

Two weeks after his blunder in Melbourne, the rider from Madrid could barely hide his sadness.

A few minutes earlier, Sainz had been visited by

at the Ferrari

, quite embarrassed by his mistake on the first lap.

"I went up to the kerb to give me some space, but I skidded and touched him. I had little grip, although that's no excuse. You never want to be involved in something like that," explained the McLaren driver.

For the second consecutive race, Sainz left with a zero.

Something strange for a driver who made regularity his hallmark.

What reasons explain this losing streak?

How to stop this bleeding?

The easiest factor to explain is the relative slowness with which Carlos tends to start in the spring.

During his first season at Ferrari he scored 20 points in the first four dates, while the previous year, when he made his debut at McLaren, this same baggage was reduced to just six.

Others, like

his former partner in Woking, tend to suffer in reverse.

After starting very strong in 2020 and 2021, the second parts of the championship seemed endless for the young Briton.

Binotto's warning

Of course, the difficulty in understanding the SF-75 has further highlighted Sainz's shortcomings.

Leclerc, with a more favorable driving style for the new single-seater, is already ahead by 48 points.

The great challenge now is to reduce that margin.

And the sooner the better.

Because on Saturday, during the official FIA press conference,

had already surprised with some statements that did not fit in with his usual measured tone.

"Perhaps it is the first time that Carlos has a car fast enough to compete every week for the privileged positions and he must get used to that," slipped the head of the

, ending his speech with praise for the "intelligence and ability Sainz to "handle that pressure".

What Binotto did not refer to so expressly was the progression of Red Bull.

Without an engine as powerful as the Ferrari,

's team were able to dominate, almost when they wanted, at Imola.

Even with his difficulties in slimming down the car, even above 800 kg,

was very fast on the straights, where he barely suffered from the uncomfortable

, so devastating with his opponents.

This heading, which yesterday caused serious back pain and headache to

still cannot be eradicated at Ferrari.

For now, Red Bull has been the only one capable of minimizing it.

Thanks to the work of

the best designer of the 21st century at the Great Circus.

No flat bottom data

In two weeks, the unprecedented Miami International Autodrome will host the next battle, where Ferrari will present more updates to its car.

However, if experience has taught us anything, it is that the Maranello engineers do not stand out for their expertise when it comes to making improvements to something that has already been working.

's accelerated course

in Alpine.

Fernando Alonso in the paddock.ANDREJ ISAKOVICAFP

The two-time world champion still does not know if he will be able to rescue in Florida the flat bottom in which he had placed so many hopes for this weekend.

The rain on Friday prevented valid conclusions from being drawn during the first free practice session and yesterday's early retirement did not leave

We will have to wait a little longer, with this floor mounted on

to find out specific data from the telemetry.

Alonso, with two points in his locker, had only starred in a worse championship start with McLaren (2015, 2017) and Minardi (2001).

Therefore, although there are plenty of examples of strictly bad luck, it is better to broaden the focus to analyze what is happening.

And by the way, prevent major disappointments.

Because if Alpine has been characterized by something during the last year, it is for not keeping the word given.

There is also no rhythm with Ocon

So far, the French team has assembled three different engines for Alonso and another two for Esteban Ocon.

This alarming unreliability is only matched by AlphaTauri.

From that starting point, the search for performance becomes extremely complicated.

And as much as Alonso has underlined on several occasions the speed of his car, the truth is that this weekend Ocon did not find a decent pace with which to keep up with Aston Martin, Haas or Alfa Romeo.

Likewise, the degradation of the tires has been more than notorious.

Without going any further, Alonso for this reason lost four positions in the

race , which is supposed to be one of his specialties.

Yesterday, the climate of concern in French

, from

to

spoke for itself.

Meanwhile, the tiredness of

seems to have reached a point of no return.

As reported yesterday by Sky Sports, the promising Australian is really interested in Williams, where he could take the seat of

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• Fernando Alonso

• Carlos Sainz Jr.