F1 News: Carlos Sainz reveals KEY to challenging Red Bull for championship

Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 2023, social, generic — Photo: © IMAGO

F1 News & Gossip

Ferrari star reveals KEY to challenging Red Bull for championship

Carlos Sainz reveals what Ferrari must do to challenge Red Bull

Shay Rogers

Monday 1 April 2024 10:57

A Ferrari star has revealed what his team must do in order to compete with Red Bull for the world championship in 2024.

The Scuderia have drastically improved this season with a new car design which Carlos Sainz led to victory at the Australian Grand Prix.

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The SF24 is a good platform for the Italian outfit to build on and has the potential to compete with Red Bull on the odd race weekend.

With some strong development, there’s an outside chance that they could challenge for the constructors’ championship if rival second driver Sergio Perez fails to sustain a strong level of performance.

Both Charles Leclerc and Sainz combine to form one of the strongest partnerships on the grid currently, and have the experience to endure a tough battle with their competitors.

READ MORE: Mercedes confirm SPECIAL return

Can Ferrari compete with Red Bull?

Speaking about their upgrades, Sainz confirmed that he believes his team can challenge Red Bull more often.

“Our car worked really well this weekend,” he said. "But it's going to be tough to keep it up there in every track until we bring an upgrade to close that gap that we saw in Bahrain and Jeddah.

“But around Australia, from lap one, it felt like a race-winning car. And even if Red Bull were also quick and were on pole, that in quali wasn't out of reach for us.

Red Bull were hindered by reliability at the Australian GP

“There will be tracks where we are strong like we saw last year. And this year it seems like our race pace is better even on those tracks that we are stronger.

"And together with a good development programme, I hope that we can challenge Red Bull more often.”

Ferrari’s improved tyre performance in race trim should help fuel more charges towards race victories and give them the ability to follow Red Bull for longer on track.

More push laps could also mean more pole positions for elite qualifier Leclerc – who has shown that he can be just as lightning over one lap as ever so far in 2024.

Red Bull Ferrari Charles Leclerc Sergio Perez Carlos Sainz Australian Grand Prix