Red Bull are unlikely to be beaten on pure pace for at least the first third of the season, Carlos Sainz Jnr predicts.
The Ferrari driver has been the most consistent threat to Red Bull over the opening races, reaching the podium in all three races he has started and winning in Melbourne after Max Verstappen retired with a brake fire. But after finishing third behind the Red Bulls yesterday, 20.8 seconds behind Verstappen, Sainz doubts he will be able to beat them in a straight fight over the coming races.
“I think they are definitely going to have an advantage in the first third of the season until we bring one or two upgrades that makes us fight them more consistently,” said Sainz. “But by that time maybe it’s a bit too late with the advantage that they might have on the championship.”
Sainz, who missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to illness, is 22 points behind Verstappen after four of this year’s 24 rounds. He said “we need more Australias” to stand a chance of closing the gap, but admitted “I don’t see Red Bull, as a team, making these mistakes very often.”
“A shame, because also I missed a race, which for both the team and me, it could be costly in the championship. We’re competing in one race less, but at the same time, we’re going to give it our best shot.
“It’s my last year in Ferrari also, so nothing to lose and we will try everything to make it back.”
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said last weekend he believes Verstappen is unlikely to beaten this year. The Red Bull driver has taken pole position for all four grands prix and only failed to win in Australia.
“Lately, Toto has been really nice, saying a lot of nice things about me!” observed Verstappen, who is believed to have been courted by Mercedes as a potential replacement for Lewis Hamilton.
However he believes Red Bull’s superiority won’t be as great at some circuits as it was last weekend.
“It’s still a very long season. I don’t want to think about the rest of the season too much. I really want to approach it race-by-race.
“I know there will be tracks coming up that might not be so favourable for us, but then, of course, when we do get to tracks where we know that we can be quick, we have to really take advantage of it and score the maximum amount of points as a team, and that’s what we’ll continue to try and do.
“Then, of course, I think we know that we get to tracks where maybe it’s a bit more difficult we have to try and…
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