Sainz has the goal of having a perfect season with Ferrari in 2023
Carlos Sainz wants to be able to challenge Red Bull and Verstappen in 2023. He knows that in order to do so, he will have to perform better than last year and that Ferrari will have to be "perfect".
Defeated by Charles Leclerc for a large part of the 2022 season, Carlos Sainz struggled a lot to tame the F1-75 developed by Scuderia Ferrari.
After a successful first season with the Reds in 2021, where he finished ahead of the Monegasque, the Spanish driver believes he has filled his gaps and is in line with the new regulations for single-seaters.
“Yes, it has been a difficult year, as you have seen from the outside,” notes Carlos Sainz. “There was a difficult first third of the season where I struggled a bit with the balance of the car, with the driving style, a car that, for some reason, didn’t suit me directly, and I had to fight with it quite often.”
And the other two thirds, I was much happier with the car. I was much more in the rhythm, but unfortunately, a lot of DNFs, a lot of reliability issues along the way. On top of that, Mercedes and Red Bull had a better second half of the season. And that means that even if I was up to par with a good car, driving well and having a solid weekend, for example in Mexico, the best I could get was a P5.
So, it’s a bit unfortunate in that regard. But I’ve learned a lot. I am proud of the progress I have been able to make inside the car, with my engineers, the way we have managed to change my pace. And yes, I will make sure that next year [2023], I become the Carlos of 2021 again and achieve good results.
2023, the year of success?
Beating Charles Leclerc is one thing, but when asked about his and Scuderia’s ability to compete against the double world champion and Red Bull, Sainz remains cautious, as he knows that everything will have to be perfect to win the championship.
Clearly last year it wasn’t possible, because I was very far from him [Verstappen] in the championship. And the way he performed with Red Bull, they were just the fastest combination: the faster car; the faster driver, admits No. 55. I think with a perfect year, it should be possible, but we will have to be flawless next year and we will have to improve the car. I will have to improve, especially in the first half of the season and in races.
« So, that’s the objective and you must set high goals for yourself and the team. You can try to reach them. And then we’ll see what life has in store for us this year. »
