The advances made by young players like the Spaniard himself, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Lando Norris have opened up the opportunity for new faces to pursue victories as their teams advance on the grid.
Their rivalries so far have proven to be exciting but fair, and Sainz is keeping his fingers crossed that they can all hold out in the same way even at higher stakes.
“I just enjoy fighting guys like Charles, Lando and George when he gets the Mercedes next year,” explained Sainz.
“It’s a generation of drivers who, even if I’m not quite their age, just enjoy fighting with them. I think they’re at a very good level, but in some ways they also manage to keep the track clean and put together good fights.
“If you look at the midfield this year and the way we managed to behave and race, it was really positive.
“Let’s see if we will all fight for higher stakes next year, whether we can keep it that way, because I personally enjoy it a lot. But I feel able to fight anyone, for sure. “
Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF21
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
In addition to Ferrari looking to make good profits next year, Norris believes that after a strong campaign in which he learned a lot, he can start until 2022.
“There are things that I can improve on, but I’m happy, it was still my most successful season,” said the McLaren driver.
“Personally, I have the feeling that I did everything to give us as a team the best opportunity to face Ferrari. Although it still didn’t work out, I think the start of the season really put us in that position.
“Ferrari was strong from the first race and people don’t know that. They were super strong from the first race. And they just got a lot stronger than us.
“They did a good job, they did a better job than us and we have to try to do better next season.”
