Ferrari may well be behind McLaren in the battle for third place in the Constructors’ Championship, but Carlos Sainz said in Qatar the battle is far from over – and that the Papaya cars could have outperformed the scarlet ones in the previous two races Triple headers.
Sainz finished sixth in Mexico and Brazil, while his teammate Charles Leclerc took P5 in both races to help Ferrari overcome a 3.5 point deficit and lead McLaren, whose drivers scored just one point in the last two healthy races 31.5 points in Qatar. The Spaniard was asked if his team would keep the upper hand at Losail.
READ MORE: Ricciardo Says McLaren needs a strong Qatar weekend to stand a real chance in the P3 battle with Ferrari
He replied, “We’ve had a bit of the upper hand lately in terms of pace, but we’re talking about a tenth and a half. When you talk about a tenth, a tenth and a half, you are really talking about details. Which is true in both Mexico and Brazil, if you look at the details, at Turn 1 they could have had a car in front of both Ferraris.
“Of course there was contact with Lando, but he wanted to overtake me when I was the leading Ferrari.” [in Brazil] and Ricciardo before the incident with Valtteri in Mexico was before the two of us. On both weekends, a McLaren could have finished ahead of both Ferraris, ”he said.
São Paulo Grand Prix 2021: Norris and Sainz meet at the start in Interlagos
With just two points from the last two races compared to Ferrari’s 37 rally, McLaren also had its fair share of bad luck, as Sainz pointed out. It was at Turn 1 in Sao Paulo that Norris’ rear wheel was cut off by Sainz (above), resulting in a puncture for the McLaren after Daniel Ricciardo Valtteri Bottas spun around Turn 1 in Mexico.
“It’s just the circumstances and we put the weekend together, maybe not, then we surpassed them by a lot. But it just goes to show that… it could have been very different if they hadn’t done DNF with one of the cars – so it’s still super tight, ”added Sainz.
If Ferrari manages to secure third place in the championship it will be the best result since 2019 – but there are still three races to go this season.
The post “It’s still super tight” – Sainz says McLaren could have outdone Ferrari in Mexico and Brazil first appeared on monter-une-startup.
