Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz finished the 2021 Formula 1 season fifth in the world driver's championship, behind only the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers.
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Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz believes that, in an equal car, he can beat the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to the Formula 1 world championship.
Sainz finished the 2021 Formula 1 season fifth in the world driver’s championship, behind only the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers. However, the Ferraris were never quite able to compete on level footing with Red Bull and Mercedes.
And this is despite the Scuderia finishing the year as the ‘best of the rest’ i.e. third in the constructor’s championship.
Still, Sainz was for many the standout driver in F1’s crowded midfield. And he secured P5 in the championship with a third-place finish at Abu Dhabi.
Not only that, he also finished ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc. This is despite Sainz only joining Ferrari in the 2021 season.
“With the same car you can, yes, or with more equal conditions (I can beat Hamilton and Verstappen),” he told TV show ‘El Hormiguero’.
“The problem is that this year Mercedes and Red Bull were between eight tenths and one second per lap more fast and among drivers I want to think that there are no more than two or three tenths.
“If there is a driver who drives a car eight tenths faster, no matter how good you are, you will not be able to beat them. I hope that Formula 1 next year is more even, we can all have more fun and compete equally.”
Sainz also brushed off any talk of being favoured more by the team now. The question was posed to him due to the fact he outperformed Leclerc this season.
And indeed, it is not a small achievement. Leclerc is seen by many as a future world champion; and the golden boy of Ferrari. After all, the team favoured him over Sebastian Vettel in 2019 when the German’s erratic driving cost them results.
That being said, Sainz believes he and Leclerc are ‘equal’ within the team. And that is not something he expects to change in the future.
However, he did state that beating his teammate was an important battle to win.
“I don’t know if this changes my status or not; because I have always believed that at Ferrari we have started on equal terms.
“But in Formula 1 this battle is given importance because it is the only one who drives the same car as you, so you can only compare yourself with your teammate.”
Both Sainz and Leclerc will be part of the team for 2022 and beyond. This is because both are on multi-year deals with the Maranello-based team.
The 2022 Formula 1 season gets underway in March with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
