Carlos Sainz "A realistic chance to beat Red Bull F1 in 2023"[F1-Gate.com]

Carlos Sainz believes Scuderia Ferrari, which is aiming to win its first F1 title in over a decade, has a real chance of overtaking Red Bull Racing in the 2023 power map.

Last year Ferrari started the season in great style with a one-two finish, with Carlos Sainz’s team-mate Charles Leclerc winning two of the first three races.

But Charles Leclerc and Ferrari’s early challenges were quickly overshadowed by a combination of strategic mistakes, unreliability and driver mistakes that saw Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing furiously heading for both F1 titles. I kept running with momentum.

However, despite the disappointment of failing to deliver results in 2022, Carlos Sainz said there were many positives to come from the experience, adding that Ferrari’s closing the performance gap to Red Bull was “a long way off.” No,” he says.

“I feel like I have a chance. I mean, Red Bull were dominant, but they weren’t clearly dominant over the pace,” Sainz said of pole position and Ferrari’s late-season F1 United States Grand Prix. He was referring to the front row monopoly.

“I don’t feel we are that far behind in terms of car development and car performance. If you think about it, I got pole position in Austin. We were one-two in qualifying. We. ‘s car shouldn’t really be that far from Red Bull.”

With Ferrari chasing its first drivers’ title since 2007 and constructors’ title since 2008, Carlos Sainz said Maranello’s operations were where he felt they should focus their efforts.

“What we need to focus on is understanding the 2023 tires and seeing how fast they can be in the race because Red Bull are particularly quick in the race compared to us. Because it’s obvious,” said Carlos Sainz.

“It’s another step we’re already working on in terms of strategy, race execution and tire management. But in terms of pure performance, we’re not far off.”

“We just need to add a little more power and downforce to the car and it will be as fast or faster, so let’s hope we can do that.”

In 2023, Ferrari will have an unchanged driver line-up with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, but team principal Mattia Binotto will leave and former Alfa Romeo boss Frédéric Vasseur will join as a replacement. has a change.