Leclerc and Sainz fell from fourth and fifth on the Silverstone grid to finish ninth and 10th, with both losing out from a mid-race safety car that compromised strategy and left them on weaker hard tyres.
Despite ongoing criticism of Ferrari's strategy, Sainz defended what he reckoned to be a "50-50" call and instead laid blame with the inconsistent nature of the car that was exacerbated by strong winds.
These unsettled the car, with 2022 British GP winner Sainz supposing his laps could vary by 0.4s depending on gusts as the SF-23 proved unpredictable despite the team having sported a revised floor for the Miami GP as part of an upgrade run that was conceived to make the car more benign.
Sainz explained: "Very windy, very tricky car to drive again, very difficult to be consistent in these conditions… We were certainly struggling a lot on traction in all the tailwind.
"We couldn't get on the power and also a harder tyre made the fighting and everything very tricky.
"We know it's our weakness, we know where it is. We see it in the wind tunnel, we see it in our car, we see it on the driving, on the feeling. So, it's just a matter of developing.
"At least we've done some progress still. But again, Silverstone has put us back in a position where we know we need to improve the car."
This susceptibility to varying conditions will leave Ferrari "exposed" at different circuit types.
Sainz continued: "It's not a great thing for us because we are very dependent on the wind and the track conditions and on the track temperature for our own performance, which will leave us a bit exposed to some weekends.
Source: Autosport