The race in Las Vegas was understood to be Ferrari ‘s territory. However, in stark contrast, the Maranello-based team was outdone by Mercedes to bag the pole and lead the Grand Prix. To further make matters worse, their lead driver on track Carlos Sainz was called into the pitlane but was denied entry at the last moment which caused the Spaniard to give a wake-up call to Ferrari.
After qualifying on the front row, Carlos Sainz aimed to take another win under his belt as his tenure with Ferrari is on the verge of ending. Contrary to his expectations, he lost P2 down to the run to turn one but got back past his teammate for the runners-up position and set his sights on charging down George Russell . On the other hand, the SF-24 got tangled in tire woes, bringing the Ferrari drivers into the firing range of the other Mercedes driven by Lewis Hamilton .
Witnessing this, Sainz urged the team to pit him and get rid of his old set of tires, which the team agreed to. However, the Italian giant’s notorious reputation for botching pitstops earned another testament as Sainz had entered the pitlane but was called off by his engineer at the last moments. This subsequently caused the 30-year-old to rejoin the track, despite entering the pitlane earlier, leading him to tell the Ferrari pitcrew to wake up from their slumber.
Carlos Sainz: What happened? Riccardo Adami: We weren’t ready Carlos Sainz: Wake up guys, come on. Carlos Sainz: What happened? Engineer: We weren't ready Carlos S.