Sainz reveals key to breaking Red Bull dominance

Sam Hall
Thursday 15 December 2022 08:40

Carlos Sainz has revealed where Ferrari must improve next year if it is to break Red Bull's stranglehold on F1.

Red Bull scored 17 wins from 22 races this past term, compared to the four from Ferrari, to romp to success in both the drivers' and constructors' championships.

But Sainz believes Ferrari was far closer to providing a title threat than the results may suggest.

"Red Bull has been dominant, but they've been dominant without being clearly ahead in pure quali pace and race pace," said the Spaniard.

"I don't feel like we are so far behind in terms of car development and car performance.

"If you think about it, I was on pole in Austin, so it means that we were one-two in Austin in quali [before Charles Leclerc's grid penalty was applied]. So it must be that our car is actually not that far from the Red Bull."

Ferrari has come under fire this year for poor strategic decisions and reliability, both of which are immediate areas of concern for new team principal Fred Vasseur.

"What we need to focus on is in trying to understand next year’s tyres [and] see how we can be quicker in the race because it's clear that the Red Bull is particularly quick in the race compared to us," added Sainz.

"For the strategy, race execution, tyre management, that's another step that we want to take next year that we are already working on. But in terms of pure performance, we are not far.

"We just need to put on a bit more power and a bit more downforce in the car and we're going to be at the same level or faster. So let's hope that we can do that."