Sainz makes it clear: Red Bull are the 'team to beat'

At Thursday's press conference, the Ferrari driver hinted that the dominant Red Bull of Bahrain looked set to return for the next four races, at the 'normal tracks'. "I think we call them normal tracks, but they're not so normal anymore. We don't go to them as often as we used to go, so it's very difficult to understand whether it will be a pattern or not," he said. "I always have felt like the Red Bull tends to perform really well in the medium-high-speed tracks, also rougher tarmacs like Bahrain or now Barcelona. So, I think they're going to be the team to beat."

Should Ferrari just be worried about Red Bull?

This season, the title fight has become a lot closer, with just 49 points separating Red Bull and Ferrari. McLaren and Mercedes follow behind in third and fourth. It has also seen four different race winners: Max Verstappen, Carlos Sainz, Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. Mercedes also now look set to join the mix, with George Russell setting the same qualifying time as Verstappen in Canada, and securign pole position. Therefore, despite Red Bull being seen as the team to beat, the Spaniard doesn't discount the competitiveness of the other top teams: "I think also McLaren is very strong in high-speed corners like here, and now they're not weak anymore in low-speed corners. So we need to see how that upgrade from Mercedes performs in Barcelona because they were, In fact, the quickest in Canada."

"We need to see if Ferrari can find the form of Monaco and with a bit of an upgrade, maybe be also good in high-speed tracks and tyre management. So that's why I say the field is extremely compact and extremely unknown. It's very difficult to judge until Friday, even in FP3, who's going to be the quickest one, which is pretty exciting for everyone," Sainz concluded.