Ferrari will be back on McLaren’s pace at upcoming tracks – Sainz

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In the round-up: Following McLaren’s strong showing at Suzuka, Carlos Sainz Jnr expects Ferrari will be back on terms with them in coming races.

In brief

Sainz sees McLaren as a threat to Ferrari

Sainz anticipates a closer battle between the Ferrari and McLaren at coming races, but predicts his former team will be fighting for podiums at “high-speed circuits” following their latest upgrade.

“When we go to places like Mexico, even Austin, with more low-speed content, we will be very equal to them – we will have a race with McLaren,” said Sainz after finishing sixth, over 13 seconds behind the second of the McLarens, at the Japanese Grand Prix.”

Lando Norris was “a couple of tenths quicker per lap” at Suzuka, Sainz admitted. “I think Piastri, whenever I had clean air, actually I had some very strong laps comparable to him. It’s just that I never had clean air.”

Norris to do demo at Sonoma Raceway

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McLaren Formula 1 driver Lando Norris will join his IndyCar counterparts Tony Kanaan, Pato O’Ward and Alexander Rossi at Sonoma Raceway on 10th-12th November to demonstrate classic McLaren race cars.

The quartet plus McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown will drive laps of the track as part of the Velocity Invitational event. The array of cars they will drive include title-winning F1 chassis and a Can-Am sports car. In addition to the fleet of McLarens, there will be demonstrations from modern-day hypercar prototypes that race in the World Endurance Championship.

Lucas di Grassi splits from Mahindra

Lucas di Grassi has split from Mahindra after just one season with the team in Formula E. The 2016-17 champion joined them at the start of 2023 and kicked things off on a high with pole and a third place finish in the Mexico City EPrix. But he only scored twice more over the 16-race season and sank to 15th in the standings.

“I want to express my gratitude to all our team members for the experiences we shared during what proved to be a challenging year,” said di Grassi. “This decision ultimately benefits us both, as our perspectives and visions have diverged. I wish Mahindra Racing the brightest future ahead.”

Di Grassi, the series’ most experienced driver, has not indicated that he will leave FE. The 2016-17 season champion has the joint most wins (13) as well as the most podiums (40), fastest laps (11) and points (1,041). From 2014 to 2021 he raced for Audi Sport Abt, but when Audi left FE he moved to Venturi for 2022. That team then became Maserati for 2023, prompting di Grassi’s move to Mahindra.

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Social media

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Comment of the day

After Red Bull won the constructors’ title earlier than has ever been managed before, with six rounds still to go, we asked if Red Bull deserve more credit for their unrivalled success this season?

There’s a bit more to it. Yes, prolonged periods at the top – and even worse sheer dominance – does tend to rally the opposition, as it were. It gives everyone who is dissatisfied a single target for their discontent. More so than when two teams are duking it out at the front, and a person’s favourite is just not able to join in.

But there is also a huge part of the audience that flocks to the winners so they can vicariously enjoy the success. They, for whatever reason, crave that feeling and will gladly change in their McLaren banners for Red Bull banners – or whatever. The bandwagon effect is definitely real in sports. It was the same when Mercedes became a much more popular team in the various polls between 2014 and 2018, and when F1 became huge in Spain and Poland when Alonso and Kubica were at their peak.
MichaelN

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to David!

Author information

Ida Wood
Often found in junior single-seater paddocks around Europe doing journalism and television commentary, or dabbling in teaching photography back in the UK. Currently based...

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5 comments on “Ferrari will be back on McLaren’s pace at upcoming tracks – Sainz”

  1. Profile Photo

    Jere (@jerejj)
    27th September 2023, 6:58

    Hiroki Otsu has effectively been Super Formula’s super sub this year, a la Hulkenberg, but in different teams.

    COTD’s way of looking at the dominance or continued success matter is good.

    1. Simon
      27th September 2023, 21:33

      #02 = 6 out of 10…

  2. MichaelN
    27th September 2023, 10:45

    As, characteristically undaunted, he continued to race at full pelt, the airflow licked around it and the nose cone to which it was attached, gradually deranging the front bodywork ever more luridly, and finally bending it up and in front of the cockpit so that he could see past it only by craning his head from side to side; a loss of front downforce, one felt, must have been the least of his worries.

    While that was obviously unsafe and deserving of a flag to come in for repairs, stuff like that does add to the myth of guys like Villeneuve. Great story! That 1979-1982 period was a wild ride for Ferrari; from winning the title, to pretty much last, and back to another title, sadly after Villeneuve’s tragic accident. His eventual replacement Patrick Tambay wrote a book about the latter part of that period, titled The Ferrari Years.

  3. Prab
    27th September 2023, 11:20

    Sainz is too high on his Singapore win. He should get back to the ground.

  4. Andrea Rancan
    28th September 2023, 19:13

    Ferrari is strong in short corners, not in slow speed corners.

    If that was the case they wouldn’t be so bad at tracks like Hungary and Zandvoort while being so strong at Baku and Singapore.

    Ferrari suffers in front limited corners, expecially the slower ones.

Comments are closed.