Carlos Sainz believes Mercedes cannot afford any mistakes in its
battle with Ferrari for second in the 2023 Formula 1 Constructors’
Championship. The higher a team finishes in the Constructors’
table, the more prize money it is entitled to at the end of a
season. Sainz’s Ferrari is currently trailing Mercedes by 20
points, with Ferrari on 362 and the Silver Arrows leading on 382
points. With 88 points up for grabs in the final two races, Sainz
believes that while Mercedes has the upper hand in races the team
can capitalise on applying the pressure. “Given the points are done
on Sunday and that’s where the Mercedes comes stronger and we are
the weakest, I think for sure they have a bit of the upper hand,”
Sainz told media, including RacingNews365 . “But at least we’re
managing to keep the pressure on and they cannot afford to make any
mistakes because we’re there to capitalise on them. It’s a fun
battle. “We’re always very close to each other in the races.
Normally, it’s them chasing us or overtaking us in the race and
hopefully we can reverse that in the last three races and at least
not get overtaken and manage to finish ahead because that’s where
the points are given.” Sainz: We tend to do better in qualifying
The recent race in Brazil gave Ferrari some encouragement that
Mercedes still suffers at high degradation circuits after Charles
Leclerc noted its main weakness was dropping back in the races.
Sainz elaborated by noting problems Ferrari is currently facing
with the tyres, which often impact them most at the end of a race
stint. “We always tend to do better in qualifying than we do in the
race. Then we have the inconsistency of the stints,” said Sainz.
“There are some stints during the year that we’ve been very good in
the race, and then other stints that we’ve lost out a lot depending
on the compound, on track conditions and the way we treat the
tyre.”
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