Sainz Says Ferrari Won't Be Able To Keep Up With Red Bull Until Next Upgrade

Monday, 01 April 2024 at 00:15

In an interview after the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz suggested that Ferrari will have a "tough" time keeping up with Red Bull until they introduce the next upgrade.

The most recent race at Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne proved that Red Bull with Max Verstappen is not as invincible as many might have thought after the first two races of the season.

Sainz also stopped Verstappen and Red Bull's streak in 2023. Ever since then, we've seen only the Dutchman on the podium until the 2024 Australian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had to retire his car very early, and there is speculation that Ferrari would have been able to beat the triple world champion if he had finished the race.

However, Ferraris have been very strong from the beginning of the weekend, and their team principal said that what happened is proof that Red Bull will make mistakes when put under pressure.

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On the other hand, Sainz tried to calm down expectations ahead of future races, saying it would be tough to maintain pressure on Red Bull until his team introduced a new upgrade.

"Our car worked really well this weekend. But it's going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah."

The Spanish Ferrari driver indirectly confirmed that he has high expectations for the upgrade his team is supposed to introduce in the first half of the season.

It was previously speculated that Ferrari has a massive upgrade in their pipeline, but as of now, no further details are available. Sainz added:

"But around Australia, from lap one, it felt like a race-winning car. And even if Red Bull were also quick and were on pole, that [1min15.915sec pole lap time] in quali wasn't out of reach for us."

"There will be tracks where we are strong like we saw last year. And this year it seems like our race pace is better even on those tracks that we are stronger. And together with a good development programme, I hope that we can challenge Red Bull more often."