Carlos Sainz Jnr says he is “perfectly confident” that Ferrari have the ability to close their performance deficit to Red Bull.
The Ferrari driver was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a grand prix in a 2023 season dominated by the world champions.
Despite winning the Singapore Grand Prix, Sainz’s Ferrari team were beaten into second place in the constructors’ championship by rivals Mercedes. However, Sainz feels Ferrari have the potential to close the gap to Red Bull heading into next season.
“I think it has to be our realistic aim, yes,” Sainz said. “Will we manage to do it? Only time will tell. But I want the team to be thinking that is possible, because I believe it is.”
Sainz pointed to the leap in performance that McLaren made during the 2023 season as an indicator that Ferrari have the potential to find significant lap time of their own before next season.
“McLaren has been able to do these steps during the season – I’m perfectly confident that Ferrari can do it over a winter break,” he said.
“I trust this team. I trust the capacity that we have back at home to turn things around. There’s still circuits where we are on pole by three-tenths to a Red Bull. It’s just that is a very specific trait of the car that really is good – we just need to make it an all rounder.”
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Ferrari secured seven pole positions over the course of the season – more than any other team aside from Red Bull – with Sainz taking pole at the team’s home grand prix at Monza as well as Singapore, which he would convert into victory. Asked what elements of the SF-23 he would like to carry over into Ferrari’s 2024 car, Sainz said “definitely the straight line speed, the braking performance and the performance in 90-degree corners or short duration corners.”
“Also the kerb riding, I think it’s a very strong point,” he continued.
However, after both he and team mate Charles Leclerc complained of the SF-23’s performance level being “peaky” over the season, Sainz said he wants Ferrari to produce a more rounded car for 2024.
“The [2023] car has very, very strong points, but I feel like if we want to have a car for the whole year, maybe we need to give away some of this these strengths to make sure that we are quick everywhere,” he explained.
“Especially in the race. I think in the races, we need to really focus on understanding what are we doing to this car, what are we doing to the…
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