Carlos Sainz admits Ferrari face ‘difficult task’ daring to realise 2024 F1 goal

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Carlos Sainz has admitted that Ferrari face a ‘difficult task’ to win Grand Prix in 2024 but if any Formula 1 team ‘dares’ to rival Red Bull for the titles, it will be the Scuderia.

The Maranello giants showed promise in patches during 2023 but fell miles short of rivalling Red Bull for either championship. Ferrari ended the year third in the constructors’ standings with 406 points to the Milton Keynes team’s 860. Mercedes got second place on 409 points.

Ferrari also only finished fifth and seventh in the drivers’ championship with Charles Leclerc scoring 206 points to Sainz’s 200. Max Verstappen even scored more points than the Ferrari drivers together with 575. He would have also won Red Bull the team’s title single-handedly.

Carlos Sainz denied Red Bull a perfect Formula 1 season in 2023

It was Sainz and Ferrari who denied Red Bull a perfect season, though, when the 29-year-old won the Singapore GP. He held off the threats of Mercedes’ George Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris to capitalise on Red Bull having their only bad weekend of the entire campaign.

Red Bull failed to deliver with either Verstappen or Sergio Perez at Marina Bay after failing to unlock a suitable set-up. Their plight blew a door wide open for Sainz to be the only non-Red Bull driver to win a Grand Prix in 2023. Verstappen won 19 of the 22 races over Perez’s two.

Mercedes and McLaren, like Ferrari, had their moments as Red Bull’s nearest challenger. But neither Formula 1 team offered enough to pip Verstappen or Perez in a race. Norris finished in second place at six races but never got closer to his maiden win than at the Singapore GP.

Carlos Sainz issues an honest verdict on Ferrari’s chances in 2024

Sainz covered Norris off perfectly in the closing stages to win the Singapore GP by just 0.812 seconds. Verstappen’s smallest winning margin to Norris in 2023 was 3.798 seconds at the British GP. But the McLaren driver also needed a late safety car period to reduce the margin.

Mercedes also benefited from late stoppages at the Australian GP as Lewis Hamilton ended the race in P2 by just 0.179 seconds to Verstappen. So, Sainz expects Ferrari plus Mercedes, McLaren and Aston Martin, will again meet a ‘difficult task’ to beat Red Bull for wins in 2024.

“We’ll see,” Sainz asserted, via Motorsport-Total. “I have the feeling that we, as a team, are definitely capable of improving. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that we will win races.”

But while Sainz admits that Ferrari are not certain to challenge Red Bull for Grand Prix wins in 2024, he believes that the Scuderia are the only F1 team possibly capable of threatening the Milton Keynes natives for either championship given the progress they offered during 2023.

The Spaniard added: “This requires a big step forward. Achieving this goal will be a difficult task, not only for Ferrari but also for Aston Martin, McLaren and Mercedes.

“It will not be easy to defeat Red Bull in the world championship fight, especially after this season. But if anyone dares to take on this task, it’s Ferrari. We improved significantly over the course of the season and ended the year on a high.”