Carlos Sainz has asserted that Ferrari can’t be reliant on beating McLaren and has to target the race win in Las Vegas to bolster its Formula 1 championship hopes.
Ferrari’s tight battle with McLaren resumed in Las Vegas, with 36 points separating the two in the Constructors’ standings as the season enters its final three races.
The Italian marque’s substantial performance gains saw it take successive wins in Austin and Mexico to displace Red Bull as McLaren’s main challenger for the title.
This trend continued again in qualifying in Las Vegas, as Sainz put in a stunning lap to take provisional pole position, only for Russell to steal it away at the death.
Sainz has acknowledged wins are crucial if Ferrari is to take the title, highlighting the need to take advantage of the SF-24’s race pace around the Las Vegas Strip Circuit.
“I honestly think we need wins also to beat McLaren,” the Spaniard explained.
“It’s not like we can afford to just be in front of them because they have a big gap in the championship.”
“And then we’re going to Qatar. That is not going to be a good track for us and we’re going to be struggling there.
“So, yeah, I think we need to win. So it’s not like it changes much my approach.”
No threat from behind?
Sainz denied suggestions of threats from behind him, with Russell and Mercedes firmly in his crosshairs, but believes the Alpine‘s Pierre Gasly could be a dark horse.
“No, I think we are genuinely fighting for the win with Mercedes tomorrow,” said Sainz.
“They went through a run of winning, I think, three consecutive races in mid-season and whenever they get it together, they are very, very fast and the fastest, like they’ve shown today.
“So I think we’re definitely going to fight George. I think Pierre, if he keeps these lap times [P3 on the grid], why not?
“And of course, Charles [Leclerc] behind in P4 and who is P5? Max [Verstappen]. Maybe with his higher downforce car can take better care of the tyres and the graining and then suddenly he can get in the mix also.
“So I think we’re fighting many cars and I think that is the beauty of Formula 1 nowadays, it’s that we went into this qualifying with four teams being capable of taking pole position, four teams capable of winning tomorrow if you put everything together and that’s a great thing for everyone, I think,” he concluded.
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