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'Of course Verstappen and Red Bull are the clear favourites for '24'

Sainz: 'Of course Verstappen and Red Bull are the clear favourites for '24'

14 February at 07:00
  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

Carlos Sainz was the only driver in 2023 to hold off Red Bull Racing with a Formula 1 Grand Prix victory. Looking ahead to the new season, the Spaniard is hopeful that there will be more wins for him and his Ferrari team in '24. To what extent that will succeed remains to be seen. The driver - whose future beyond 2024 is unclear - realises that Max Verstappen with Red Bull is by far the favourite.

"I wish that we can achieve more than one win. " Sainz told media including GPblog. "I think that's the target. in the whole team including me. I think we've done everything we can to close that gap to Red Bull and even though Red Bull is going to come out super strong, I think Ferrari is capable of closing that gap and putting ourselves in a position of fighting for more wins." 

"Whether we get them or not, let's wait a little bit until Bahrain, let's wait until the first race, see how competitive we are and then I'll be able to tell you how many wins I think we're going to achieve this season."

Ferrari are on closing the gap, believes Sainz

Allocating the world championship to Verstappen and Red Bull in advance, Sainz certainly doesn't want to do that. "New season, everyone starts from zero. Everyone has zero points. No one knows what each other's cars performance is going to be. Obviously, Red Bull and Verstappen are clear favourites for this year's title because of the advantage they had last year and potentially how early they could start developing their 2024 car."

"So I think they're clear favourites. But Ferrari finished in a strong way last season. We had a strong end to the season. So obviously, we're feeling confident, too, and we want to start the year how we ended last year in a good progression," Sainz said.