Carlos Sainz believes that an underwhelming season opener will not affect Ferrari’s championship hopes in 2023
The Spanish driver is not overtly confident about Ferrari's chances at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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Carlos Sainz
Scuderia Ferrari got off to a flying start in 2022. The Italian squad had a stellar 1-2 finish in the first round of the season in Bahrain. While arch-rivals Red Bull suffered a double DNF. Yet, the Austrian team managed to annihilate the Scuderia by the latter half of the year. Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz has recognized this harsh reality of the sport’s busy calendar and expressed his views for the season opener.
The Spanish driver heads to the Bahrain Grand Prix adamant that the results of the first race do not decide the championship. The 28-year-old reminded the fans that even if a team suffers from two retirements it can still win the title. Carlos Sainz said, “If you DNF with two cars on the first race, you’re not going to lose the championship, because it’s exactly what happened last year between us and Red Bull. We also know how it finished.”
Sainz advised his team to not get ahead of itself after the results of the Bahrain Grand Prix. Rather, the Spaniard hopes for his team to be consistently working as per the plan. the 28-year-old said, “Whatever happens in this first race, stay humble, stick to your plan of development of the things that you want to improve.” Carlos Sainz stated that no title is one right after the season opener. He said, “because the championship is not won or lost in this first race and there’s still 22 left.”
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“I have no idea where we will fall,” Carlos Sainz on the pace of Scuderia Ferrari
The 28-year-old is skeptical about Ferrari’s position in the pecking order. Carlos Sainz explained, “What we don’t know is the last two or three-tenths.” The Spanish driver mentioned this to be a crucial deciding factor. He continued, “But in the end in F1, the last two or three-tenths are the most important because two or three tenths is a big number in this world.”
Interestingly, Carlos Sainz is clueless about how Ferrari will stack up against rivals. the 28-year-old said, “I have no idea where we will fall in those last two or three-tenths with the Red Bull, with the Aston Martin, with the Mercedes. It’s impossible to know.” Evidently, Sainz believes Aston Martin to be a formidable challenge in 2023.
Lastly, the Spanish driver expected Red Bull to be the benchmark in round 1 of the season. As Max Verstappen dominated Pre-season testing. Carlos Sainz mentioned, “It’s no secret that they look like the strongest ones with Red Bull probably leading the way. Now we want to see where we fit into that matrix.”
Thus, it appears that Carlos Sainz is not confident in Ferrari’s pace for the Bahrain Grand Prix. The Scuderia seem to be on the back foot compared to reigning champions Red Bull. However, the 28-year-old has faith in his team’s ability to improve over the course of the season. As the Italian team pushes itself to the limit in trying to bring glory to Maranello.
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Armaan Agarwal
(2332 Articles Published)