Sainz honest: 'We need Red Bull to DNF to challenge them for the title'

After the Australian Grand Prix, everything seemed to point to a world title for Ferrari, the first since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. Yet the flag is flying in the summer break. The gap between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the championship is 80 points and the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull in the constructors' championship is 97 points.

Not an impossibly large gap, but the task of bridging it gets bigger every race. Carlos Sainz, Leclerc's teammate at the Italian team, also sees this. According to him the team has a clear task in the second half of the season, he explains at Motorsport Week.

DNFs needed for Verstappen?

"I think it is clear for Ferrari what we need to do, which is to win those races that Max wants to win." The Belgian and Dutch Grand Prix are high on Verstappen's list, as they are the Dutchman's two home races. "Obviously getting those 25 points makes quite a big difference in the point swing. I think there’s still a lot of things that could happen up there at the front."

Still, Sainz expects Ferrari to no longer have the title fight in their own hands and will therefore need help from Red Bull. "It is true that maybe at some point we need a bit of help from Red Bull in reliability or DNFs but even without those, statistically if it’s open, its open, and you cannot give up," Sainz concluded.