Sainz Hoping For Car That Won't Give Him 'Headaches' Like In 2023

Monday, 08 January 2024 at 02:00

Scuderia Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz suggested there is a lot to be changed about Ferrari's 2023 car as he hopes to fight for the Championship in 2024.

Despite being the only F1 driver outside of Red Bull on the grid to win a race in 2023, Carlos Sainz was not completely satisfied with how the most recent season went.

Ferrari was thinking they would have a Championship-contending car, but the first race of the season exposed great weaknesses and a huge pace gap to the leading Red Bull.

When asked how much he would like the 2023 car change going into this year's season, the Spanish driver suggested he would like to see significant changes. He told as.com:

"A lot. It has been said that it is a car that suits me well, that I like. Honestly, it has given headaches not only to me but to my teammate, and Ferrari as well. It is very difficult to understand."

Read also

Sainz Highlights Leclerc's Strengths: 'We Make Very Good Pair'

The team principal of Scuderia, Frederic Vasseur, stated that 95% of the SF23 will be changed before we enter the season 2024. Sainz continued saying he did not enjoy driving the last year's car.

"I am not enjoying riding it. I have had to adapt to many things, and I have had to try many set-up things. I hope that in 2024, it will be more versatile and easier to carry and tune up. May we have a better racing car.

It was rumored Ferrari had the trickiest cars to drive in 2023, and the team will definitely want to work on driveability as it is one of the most crucial aspects.

Mercedes's team principal, Toto Wolff mentioned it is one of his team's priorities to build a car in which their drivers feel comfortable. In the end, it is the drivers that need to deliver the result.

On a positive note for Ferrari fans, Sainz believes his team has taken the right direction moving forward, which became apparent towards the end of the last season. He added:

"This second half of the season proves it. We set ourselves the goal of maximizing the car we had, we made fewer mistakes and a lot of things happened outside of our control, but we managed to maximize the weekend and get the performance out of the car quite well."