Was McLaren not so dominant in Zandvoort? 'Norris was just very good'
F1 News
- Jeroen Immink
Carlos Sainz will this weekend compete in his last Ferrari home race at the Monza circuit for the time being. From next year, the Spaniard will drive for Williams. Sainz himself thinks that he and teammate Charles Leclerc can cause a surprise.
Is the gap between Ferrari and McLaren too big?
At Zandvoort, McLaren was too strong for all other Formula 1 teams. Lando Norris beat Max Verstappen to win the race by a whopping 22-second margin. Asked if McLaren is too far away, Sainz responded. "Not only for Ferrari. Lando I think must have done a really solid weekend and needs to also get praise for that because Oscar is P3, so it's not like only McLaren was in a different league," Sainz revealed.
Can Ferrari recover in front of their own crowd?
In qualifying for the Dutch GP, Ferrari did not come close to the top five, but recovered handsomely in the race. This gives Sainz hope for the upcoming race in Italy. "It was very good last year. It's been resurfaced so we will find a very different Monza from the last few years so I think we need to wait and see but I hope that Monza is one of those weekends where we can get both cars on the podium or in the top five and whether we can fight for the win or not we will see," the Spaniard said.
Last year, Sainz secured pole position at Monza and found himself battling Verstappen in the race. In the end, the Dutchman prevailed and walked away with victory in Italy.
This article has been written in collaboration with Matt Gretton