Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz is aware that it is only a matter of time until Red Bull and Max Verstappen mathematically secure the 2022 F1 world championships, so he is instead focused on helping the Maranello team take a few more wins this season, as they look to build and improve for the following F1 campaign.
Taking into consideration the strong start of the 2022 F1 championship, Scuderia Ferrari seemed able to finally challenge for the titles, as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz took a memorable one-two finish in Bahrain, while the Monegasque driver went also to also win the Australian Grand Prix, round three of 2022.
Unfortunately Red Bull gradually recovered and even gained a solid advantage as the season went on, being able to take advantage of Ferrari’s issues on more than one occasion, with the Italian side losing valuable points due to power unit issues and some poor strategical decisions made by the pitwall in the first part of the season.
Ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen needs to win and take the fastest lap bonus at Suzuka to secure his second consecutive title. While Carlos Sainz’s Maranello team-mate Leclerc Charles is not mathematically out of the fight for the title and the Italian side is 137 points behind Red Bull in Constructors’ standings, the Spanish driver admitted that Max Verstappen will soon become be World Champion this year.
Scuderia Ferrari is now focused on the 2023 championship with the goal of fighting back and being able to make life much more difficult for their opponents. However, Carlos Sainz still wanted to point out that the current championship remains very important also in view of 2023, given the fact that as many wins as possible in the final part of this season would give Ferrari confidence booster.
The Scuderia have not appeared on the top step of the podium since the first part of July, when Charles Leclerc won at the Red Bull Ring in Austria:
“We’re going to do everything we can to win, which also slows down their success,” Carlos Sainz explained ahead of the Suzuka weekend – “It’s been a while since we won, but the goal is to just win everything. We know that sooner or later Verstappen will be champion anyway. With those wins, we are preparing for 2023. The aim is not specifically to delay his title win. We know he will take it anyway. As Ferrari we want to be victorious, keep learning and run weekends perfectly. That builds confidence and that brings Ferrari more success.” – he added.
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After a good first half of the season at least in terms of race pace, Ferrari has lost a lot of ground to Red Bull not only in the standings but also on track, especially on Sundays. As a result, Max Verstappen took five victories in a row, before his Red Bull teammate ended his streak seven days ago in the Singapore Grand Prix at Marina Bay street circuit.
Charles Leclerc seemed able to challenge Max Verstappen’s team-mate in Singapore, but eventually had to settle for second place, with Carlos Sainz completing the podium to ensure that both Ferrari drivers featured in the celebrations for the first time since Miami.
Now the Spaniard looks ahead to the Suzuka weekend with confidence and feels the Japanese track should allow the F1-75 car to fight with its rivals for the race wins:
“Winning at least one race before the end of this year should already motivate us and make us feel good,” the Ferrari driver continued. “This means we need to have a perfect weekend, which is what we need now. At Zandvoort and Spa we didn’t have the pace, but at Monza and Singapore things were already better. We were maybe not faster than Red Bull in the race, but more in the fight. Suzuka should suit us. It consists of long straights, with medium and fast corners. This has to suit our car. Our car is fast almost everywhere, but it’s purely down to how we do against Red Bull.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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