Carlos Sainz admits 2023 is “most difficult year” for Ferrari: “Expectations were different”. Carlos admits 2023 is "most difficult year".

Ferrari, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc’s numbers
Carlos Sainz’s standings and results after five races and one Sprint do not reflect Scuderia Ferrari’s expectations. The Spanish driver is currently in fifth place with 44 points, which means there is already a huge gap (-75) to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Charles Leclerc is faring even worse: the Monegasque driver, who has already had two zero-point finishes, has ten points less than his teammate. With such gaps, the blame certainly cannot be placed on the drivers, who, despite some setbacks (as suffered by Carlos Sainz in Baku and Charles Leclerc at the Miami International Autodrome in Florida, USA), are doing their best to push beyond the limits of a car that seems to match Red Bull in qualifying but struggles in terms of race pace.

The Spanish driver has explained the disappointment felt within the Maranello team for this SF-23 single-seater, which is conceptually inferior to the RB19, and that improvements can enhance it but not transform it into a winning car.

Carlos Sainz’s words
“It has been tougher than any other year. It felt like 2022 was some sort of return to the top for Ferrari. And I believe all of us expected to be fighting at least at a similar level. Not just me, but the whole team had these expectations. Finding ourselves suddenly over half a second behind Red Bull was hard to handle. Suddenly, you have to reset, go back to the drawing board, and make sure to keep everyone motivated,” these are Carlos Sainz’s words in an interview for The Race. “The amount of work being done in Maranello with the development plan is enormous. Trying to align and motivate the entire factory for the next step is the toughest challenge.” – the Spanish driver pointed out.

“It’s not an easy car,” the Ferrari man continued. “It’s tricky and makes it difficult to predict the right setup in qualifying and the race, the changing conditions, tire wear. As a driver, though, I think I understand how to drive this generation of cars. It hasn’t been an easy start, but I feel that even if the car is perhaps even more challenging than last year’s, I understand these complexities better. And I can set up and drive the car in my own way.” – Carlos Sainz concluded.

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