With some technical problems, Ferrari threw away the lead in the world championship in the past three races, but Carlos Sainz attests his team a positive start to the season and only sees the defects as a “small dent” on an otherwise good path.
Ferrari had a very good start to the 2022 Formula 1 season and was able to win two of the first three races. Since then, however, there has been no victory, although Charles Leclerc regularly starts from pole position – in six of the eight races so far.
Ferrari last with failures
Most recently in Spain and Azerbaijan, however, the Monegasque was eliminated and was not on the podium at the home game in Monaco after a strategic mistake by Scuderia. Nevertheless, Sainz says that the situation at Ferrari should be seen more in the context of a team that performed better than expected in the first few races.
“There’s no denying that we went into the season with the aim of being competitive again and we’ve managed to exceed even our own expectations by being so competitive,” said the Spaniard. “And that got us into the World Championship fight.”
However, one should not forget that Ferrari is back at the top for the first time in two years. “We’ve made a huge step in terms of engine performance, we’ve made a huge step in understanding the rules, and we’re still fairly new to this fight,” said the Ferrari driver, who also retired prematurely in Baku with a hydraulic defect .
Leclerc doesn’t want to be unsettled?
But such defects are okay for Sainz in the rebuilding process – “especially when you make such progress with the engine”.
“If you notice where we come from and what steps we’ve made in a year, then it doesn’t look too bad either,” he emphasizes. “That’s just a little dent on the way.”
According to Charles Leclerc, Ferrari is not unsettled by the recent defects: “It is important that we remain calm, because that will take us back to the top,” he says. “Of course this is a difficult time now, but we have to stay calm – but also be aware that we have to solve this problem as soon as possible.”
At least the racing team finds comfort in the fact that the pace is in the car. “So we know that we will fight for the championship with Red Bull as soon as we solve the problems,” says Leclerc. “I have confidence in this team because they always give 200 per cent and I’m sure we can catch Red Bull again if we get our problems under control.”