Ferrari has worked hard over the winter to make up for its troubled 2020 campaign, which saw an engine failure and a towing car struggling for shape.
It finished sixth in the constructors’ championship last year, the worst result since 1980.
After Sainz and his teammate Charles Leclerc fixed their shortcomings with the new SF21, they battled at the top of the midfield in the first two races of that year. The team appeared to be in a close battle with McLaren.
Though McLaren manages to oust Ferrari in both Bahrain and Imola, Sainz believes he can beat the Woking-based squad on circuits that better match his car’s characteristics.
Sainz talked about whether McLaren or Ferrari had the best car right now: “I think it’s very close, honestly. It is very difficult to choose.
“I think the McLaren has its strengths and weaknesses. But what makes it a really nice fight is that we’re fast in very different places on the track and that makes it a very fun fight.
“It looked like Lando had really made the most of the car’s potential at Imola and he was there all weekend, especially from Saturday, and he drove a good race.
“Maybe they had a little bit of the upper hand this weekend and the last two weekends they had the upper hand, a little bit, but as soon as we have a very good weekend and go on a track that might benefit us, I think we can be ahead . “
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McLaren appears to have a straight-line speed advantage over Ferrari with his car and struggled with his one-lap pace in Bahrain – something that was raised for Imola.
Ferrari’s struggles against Norris in the closing stages of Imola, however, were hampered in part by the team opting for a higher downforce setting due to the wet weather.
Much of the F1’s performance fluctuations this year appear to be due to tire management. Some cars are better at turning their rubber on for a single lap, but then have more problems with longer runs.
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