According to Carlos Sainz, Red Bull “killed everyone”

The last victory in a race for Ferrari dates back to the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix. At that time, Charles Leclerc masterfully managed his tires and made three overtakes on Max Verstappen to secure his 5th career win. But since then, nothing. The second half of the 2022 season proved to be almost a disaster for Ferrari as they were unable to keep up with Red Bull’s pace. In 2023, the prancing horse team is still far behind. However, hope is rekindled among the Reds. With the arrival of Frédéric Vasseur and the new direction taken in car development, Ferrari is slowly but surely closing the gap with Red Bull. Despite a very difficult start to the season, since the Canadian Grand Prix, Ferrari manages to get closer to victory, although the road still seems long in the face of the Red Bull behemoth.

But Ferrari is not the only team in this situation. Mercedes has also been going through a difficult period since 2022 and is struggling to get back to the front. Everyone has been affected by Red Bull’s progress.

In Spielberg on Sunday, Charles Leclerc briefly led the race before being caught up by Max Verstappen. The Dutchman even managed to distance himself from Leclerc by 24 seconds, only to stop at the pit stop towards the end of the race and attempt to set the fastest lap. The domination is complete.

Sainz reflects on his difficulties

Carlos Sainz, 6th in the Austrian Grand Prix after receiving a penalty following the race, discusses this challenging year since Ferrari’s last victory in July 2022. “The year has been long, that’s for sure. And I think from Austria last year until today, it’s been difficult,” he lamented.

Is it possible to come back to the top? According to Carlos Sainz, it’s obviously possible, but we will have to deliver a perfect performance both at the factory and on the track. It won’t be easy because there is another team, Red Bull, who has been dominating everyone, who has killed the competition in a certain way, said the Spaniard. But Ferrari is not the only one in this situation. And we are not the only ones suffering from it. There are also teams, like Mercedes, who have struggled despite their good work, and it’s now up to us to reverse the trend and do our best to win again, said Sainz.

Ferrari on the right track?

However, the direction taken in the development of the race car over the past few weeks seems to be the right one. Furthermore, Frédéric Vasseur’s work is starting to be more and more noticeable within the Scuderia.

“We experienced a drop in form towards the end of last year in terms of race pace, and then we continued that, let’s say, difficult moment this year, and we are exactly at the turning point, or the moment where we are trying to turn things around to make the car competitive again and to try to win again,” explained Carlos Sainz.

In Canada, the changes made had given Ferrari a glimmer of hope. In Austria, the package brought greatly satisfied the team, which also established itself as the second force on the grid, ahead of Mercedes and Aston Martin. However, the task of returning to victory this year will not be easy, as Red Bull is in position: out of the last 20 Grand Prix races, 19 have been won by the team based in Milton Keynes, showing their dominance. Nevertheless, Red Bull’s penalty and a possible drop in performance could allow Ferrari and the others to get closer to the first place.