Ferrari losing on straights but have no reason to ‘envy’ McLaren’s corner speed. Ferrari have no reason to 'envy' McLaren's corner speed.

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz feels that the Italian side has no reason to “envy” rivals McLaren, at least when it comes to the cornering speed of the car. It is, however, no surprise that Ferrari is losing on the straights due to the power unit, as the Maranello team hopes to be able to recover the deficit in the 2022 Formula 1 season.

As McLaren wrapped up their third podium of this season at the Austrian Grand Prix, Lando Norris taking the chequered flag in third place, Carlos Sainz took some comfort from beating the other McLaren of Daniel Ricciardo. The Spaniard put in a late charge to take a position off the Aussie, finishing fifth on the day having started P10.

“I’m happy because I struggled a lot in the beginning and I thought I didn’t go anywhere with the hard, and then finishing P5 proves to you that the races are long and that you have to stay patient. It was a nice race, enjoyable race. The start was tough but in the end the result is positive.” – the Spanish driver explained, as reported by Sky Italia at the end of the 2021 Austrian Grand Prix.

Carlos Sainz is confident Ferrari are a match for McLaren, at least when it comes to cornering speed: “We are fast in the corner, that is for sure,” he said. “I think that in the corners we have nothing to envy McLaren and we’re not so far from Mercedes and Red Bull in the corner as you saw in Monaco and in Baku. We arrive at these circuits and we struggle a bit because there are many straights but in the corner we go fast.” – he added.

Down on the McLarens in straight-line speed, Carlos Sainz admits it was “difficult” catching and passing Daniel Ricciardo: “It’s difficult to overtake that McLaren. It has a great power at the exit of the corners. If you open the DRS toward the McLaren, it doesn’t do much. I risked a lot in the braking at Turn 3, I managed to take the inside, the clean air I took a good traction. In the end I managed to overtake him but I thought it was difficult.” – the Spanish driver concluded after the event at the Red Bull Ring circuit.