Sainz sees Ferrari still capable of being champion this season

Carlos Sainz wants to end his adventure with Ferrari with a trophy. The son of the double world rally champion, who will join Williams in 2025, has revealed that he has made a request to the Maranello team at the end of this season: to stay consistent to stand out if McLaren and Red Bull encounter problems.

Even if the Woking team seems out of reach, it has already proven this season that it can drop points, giving its rivals several opportunities to score additional points. For Sainz, this dynamic could continue in the last six races of the championship, and Ferrari must take advantage of it at all costs if the opportunity arises.

A place to be taken at least for Ferrari

« I think that McLaren definitely has the advantage and they are the favorites to win [the title], ” said Sainz to some media, including RacingNews365. « We still have Red Bull in our sights. And McLaren, if they start to weaken or encounter problems, we need to stay in the race. » Even if the chances of the Italian team are slim due to their 75 points behind Zak Brown’s team, Sainz does not want the team to give up and wants to take advantage of every opportunity to try to climb back up the leaderboard. Furthermore, if Ferrari fails to catch up with McLaren, the Spanish driver would be content with second place, considering that the Prancing Horse team still has Red Bull within reach, as they are only 34 points behind the Austrian firm.

« I think it would show good resilience from the team. You know, after a difficult period in the middle of the year where we lost a lot of points and a lot of development. » A result that would demonstrate the progress made by Ferrari during the year, which could not do better than a third place last year, behind Red Bull and Mercedes, and which had difficult weeks after its victory in Monaco. However, the former Renault driver expects Red Bull to come back strongly in the upcoming races, with the Austrian team announcing significant upgrades upon the return of Formula 1 to the Americas circuit. At the same time, he is concerned about Ferrari’s pace on more traditional circuits. « Red Bull will come back strongly with the improvements, I think, towards the end of the season, once they have understood what they did wrong with their car. So, it won’t be easy to beat them either.

Some decisive last Grand Prix for the Italian team

Sainz relies on the good momentum within the team to achieve results. « I think we also need to show progress on other types of circuits like Brazil, Austin, Qatar, and Abu Dhabi, which are more traditional circuits… If we show progress there, I think we could have a chance to win. If on these circuits we continue to lag behind, like in Spa or Hungary, it means we still have a lot of work to do », he told the media, including GpBlog.

A fierce battle awaits the top three teams in the final six Grand Prix races. McLaren appears to be the favorite, but issues could suddenly arise, giving its competitors the opportunity to catch up in the standings. A prospect that makes this end of the season very exciting.