Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz struggles in Azerbaijan due to new Formula 1 weekend format

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is experiencing a tough weekend at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix due to the new format, which he believes is preventing drivers from making necessary setup changes.

Sainz admitted to "trailing" during Friday's practice, and could only manage a fifth-place finish for the Sprint race, after his teammate Charles Leclerc made a costly error on his final lap.

Despite this, Sainz is still struggling in areas such as the brakes and believes that he is on a "damage limitation" weekend.

"I keep struggling with the car, with my feeling, kept struggling on the brakes, so clearly lacking this weekend," Sainz said to media.

Sainz blames the new format, which includes an extra qualifying session for the Sprint race, for the limitations he is facing. With only one hour of practice on Friday, cut short due to a red flag, teams are unable to make any setup changes as all the cars are in Parc Ferme from after qualifying for the Grand Prix.

"We have no time to really go through a data and put together some changes with this format," explains Sainz. "The compromises of this format are that if there is something wrong or there's direction that is not working, you don't have time to change it."

Sainz is not the only driver struggling with the new format, but the Spanish driver is confident he can still improve his form for the race on Sunday. As he puts it: "We need to find a way to adapt to this format and hopefully tomorrow we can still come back."