Carlos Sainz says it is “very difficult” to know yet whether McLaren or Ferrari holds the third-fastest package in Formula 1 this year, and reckons the advantage could ebb and flow through 2021.
Sainz’s Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc qualified as ‘best of the rest’ in Bahrain and Imola, classifying fourth on both occasions, though McLaren moved ahead in race trim.
Lando Norris finished fourth in Bahrain and took third at Imola, narrowly ahead of Leclerc and Sainz, having used softer tyres to pass the Monegasque driver at the restart.
McLaren and Ferrari hold third and fourth in the championship, on 41 and 34 points respectively, as the only two teams to have scored with both cars at the two opening events.
“I think it is very tight honestly, it is very difficult to pick,” said Sainz on his current and former team.
“I think the McLaren has its strengths and its weaknesses, and us the same.
“What makes it a really nice fight is that we are quick in very different places on the track and it makes it a very fun battle.
“It looked like Lando, did a very good job in extracting the whole car potential. He was on it the whole weekend, especially from Saturday onwards and he did a good race.
“They were, in my opinion on a slower tyre, on the Softs at the end of the stint.
“You could see they were graining a little bit and that’s why we were behind him, pushing him but if he would have been on the Medium it’d have been very difficult to stay in his DRS because he was very quick on Mediums all weekend.
“Overall, it’s very tight, maybe they had a bit of an upper hand a tiny bit the last two races.
“As soon as we do a very good weekend and we go to a track that maybe favours us a little bit we can be ahead.”
Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto expressed encouragement over the squad’s early 2021 form in the wake of last year’s travails.
“I think that confirms to me Mercedes and Red Bull are still ahead and I don’t think that can be a surprise, the gap was so big last year,” said Binotto on the opening rounds.
“I am somehow already happy what we managed to progress but as Carlos mentioned, we are in a tight fight with McLaren for the third message.
“Is that our objective for the season? I think our objective is often said, it’s to still prove that we can progress in all the areas. I think we can do it. It’s really a matter of mentality and I think more importantly it shows we are capable of progressing but from what we have a good starting point.”
