Carlos Sainz assesses his own season and explains why Mercedes deserved to win the battle for second place in the Constructors’ World Championship
Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is the only driver besides Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to win a race in the 2023 Formula 1 season. However, the 29-year-old Spaniard’s personal summary of the season is positive, and not just because of his triumph at the Singapore Grand Prix: “I think it was a good year for me. Compared to the previous season, we looked better and were more consistent. “
However, this progress is not borne out by the bare figures. In 2022, Sainz achieved nine podium finishes, including one race win, but in 2023 he only finished on the podium twice in addition to Singapore.
Admittedly, the 2022 Ferrari was much more competitive than its successor, but Sainz and his team didn’t exactly end the season on a high: “I’m obviously not happy with the way the last two races went. “
Hunted by bad luck
At the new track in Las Vegas, a sucked-in manhole cover destroyed the chassis, underbody and engine of Sainz’s Ferrari, forcing him to start the race from the back of the grid and settle for sixth place.
At the season finale in Abu Dhabi, Sainz and Ferrari made a mistake in qualifying, which meant the end of Q1 and another race to catch up – which, however, did not materialize. Instead, Ferrari even made Sainz park the car shortly before the end.
“In the last two races, everything went wrong in a dramatic way,” the Spaniard laments. “The problems in Qatar, the difficulties in Vegas on Friday fitting a new chassis and also here [in Abu Dhabi] are not helping us to improve our reliability and score points.”
“It is what it is. Normally I’m always at my strongest at the end of the season, but that hasn’t been the case this year. We now need to sit down, analyze and understand what could have gone better in the last two races and come back stronger. “
Sainz sees Ferrari on the right track
The Spaniard knows that his double zero at the end of the season probably cost Ferrari second place in the Constructors’ World Championship.
In the end, Mercedes had just three points more to their name, but Sainz says: “I think the result is fair. Both teams had phases where they were faster, but in the end they were more consistent than us. Our car was a bit faster overall, but the reliability let us down here and there.”
Nevertheless, Sainz believes his team is on the right track: “We have made a lot of progress this year. I think we’ve learned a lot about our car and the tires, which is why we were much stronger at the end of the season than at the start. We can build on this and strike back next year with an improved overall package. “
