Why Carlos Sainz feels Ferrari 'aren't far away' from 2022 Constructors' champions Red Bull

Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz feels that the Maranello team can look forward to the 2023 Formula 1 season and its prospects of defeating rivals Red Bull next year, despite the huge gap at the top in terms of points with which the Austrian side won the championship this season.

While the Italian side began its 2022 F1 campaign with two impressive race wins after the first three rounds, Scuderia Ferrari was not able to build on the great start and gradually lost the lead, falling behind Red Bull in the second part of the championship. Red Bull’s car development, along with a series of strategy mistakes from the Maranello pit wall and power unit technical failures allowed the Milton Keynes to finish the year with 17 victories out of 22 Grand Prix races.

Carlos Sainz, who had his own pace deficit problems in the first half of the year, but gradually recovered as he got to grips with the F1-75 issues, took his first Formula 1 pole position and race win in the British Grand Prix. The Spaniard was asked about Ferrari’s target of successfully defeating the Austrian side next season and confirmed that he was confident for 2023, also pointing to Ferrari’s strong qualifying pace.

“I feel we have chances,” Carlos Sainz said, in a recent interview after the end of the championship – “Red Bull has been dominant, but they’ve been dominant without being clearly ahead in pure qualifying pace and race pace. So I don’t feel like we are so far behind in terms of car development and car performance. If you think about it, I was on pole in Austin, so it means that we were one-two in Austin in qualifying. So it must be that our car is actually not that far from the Red Bull.” – the Spaniard added.

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Scuderia Ferrari’s turbulent season was made more difficult by strategic errors that cost at least two race wins for Charles Leclerc, while power unit reliability issues meant retirements for Carlos Sainz in Azerbaijan and Austria, as the Spaniard was on his way to podium finishes. When asked to pinpoint the key areas of improvement for the following season, Carlos Sainz highlighted the various factors that allowed Red Bull to win the battle for the titles this year.

“What we need to focus on is in trying to understand next year’s tyres [and] see how we can be quicker in the race because it’s clear that the Red Bull is particularly quick in the race compared to us. For the strategy, race execution, tyre management, [they are other steps] that we want to take next year that we are already working on it. But in terms of pure performance, we are not far. We just need to put on a bit more power and a bit more downforce in the car and we’re going to be at the same level or faster. So let’s hope that we can do that.” – Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.