Not the best year but Ferrari can challenge for title in 2022, says Carlos Sainz

Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is of the opinion that the prancing horse has all the right tools to challenge for and win the 2022 Formula 1 championship. 2021 has not been a year that Ferrari would like to look back fondly on. They are nowhere near the championship picture, with Mercedes and Red Bull fighting it out for the constructor’s championship. In the driver’s championship, neither Ferrari driver is close to the title either. It has turned out to be a two-way battle between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The 2021 season has seen Ferrari become one of the midfield constructors. That is something the prancing horse does not want to become.

Sainz said that 2021 had not been the best year for him either. He said that he had pace but the consistency was lacking. He has been outperformed by his teammate Charles Leclerc this year a number of times, but the Spanish driver also said that he was gradually getting close to Leclerc. “My pace is right, but there is a lack of consistency,” Sainz said.

“And today you really do have to put all the puzzle pieces in the right place in order to show a good racing performance. I’m doing better now and I have been comforted to see that I was always close to Charles in terms of speed. But he has managed to put better weekends together. I know that I can do a lot more,” the Spaniard added.

SAINZ TOO AGGRESSIVE, SAYS BINOTTO

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto agreed with Sainz’s assessment of himself. He said that the former McLaren driver often made costly errors for being too aggressive.

“He still misses the perfect weekend. In every qualifying or race there have always been a few small flaws,” he told Corriere della Sera.

“But it is only a matter of time,” he added.

Sainz believes that he still has time to get to his best as Ferrari has “higher priorities than beating McLaren to third place” this season.

“We want to continue to improve as a team and build the team to try to be as complete as possible, and have the opportunity to win the title next year with the new regulations,” he said. “We are ready for that.”

LECLERC NEEDS LUCK

Binotto has been more appreciative of Leclerc this season, stating that the only thing the Frenchman has been missing this season was luck.

“We just have to give him the car now,” Binotto said.

“The 2022 project is very delicate due to the big change of regulations, but it is already well advanced. We are in the phase in which the fundamentals of the car are frozen – chassis, suspension, gearbox,” he added.

“The choices have been made, and we will start producing the parts and trying every possible solution in the wind tunnel to ensure we have made the right choice,” the Ferrari boss added.