Sainz on battle for podium: 'There will be good and not so good weekends'

19:34, 20 Jul 2023
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Ferrari had a disappointing weekend in Britain. Carlos Sainz finished the race tenth, leaving George Russell just one point behind him in the championship. However, the Spaniard expects the Hungaroring to be better for the Prancing Horse, which he stated during Thursday's press conference.

Vying for podium spots

Who finishes in first place seems to be predetermined on most weekends. In combination, Max Verstappen and his RB19 are unstoppable for any team. The battle for the other podium spots is more exciting, especially now that the Aston Martin is no longer faster than Ferrari and Mercedes every weekend.

Sainz also sees that there is a lot of variation at the moment in who is faster among the sub-toppers: "It's going to be one weekend you're going to be a tenth in front, another weekend you're going to be a tenth behind. And it's a swing of two-tenths that it could change just the outcome of the whole weekend, and you could look like, 'Oh, now we're back in P2, P3, P4.' And then the next weekend, you're P7 and P8, and the result change is massive. But the relative performance that you've gained or lost is actually not that much. It's just that the track suits you better, or McLaren better, or Aston better, or Mercedes better. So, I think it's important not to overreact and just know that, so far, there's going to be good weekends and not-so-good weekends."

'In good conditions we are strong here'

This weekend will see racing at the Hungaroring. Sainz is confident that this weekend will be better than Silverstone: "I think we are all a bit hopeful that Hungaroring should suit us a bit more. But again, it will depend. Unfortunately, with our car, it depends a lot on the track temperature. It depends a lot on the wind situation. We know we have certain weaknesses that make us vulnerable and make us sensitive to these kinds of things. But if conditions are good for our car, I think we should be relatively strong around here."