Sainz: 'We believe Mexico was a one-off'

For Ferrari, the end of the season probably comes at a good time. The Italian team started the year ironclad, but is increasingly seeing Mercedes prevail lately. Moreover, Ferrari has been no match for Red Bull Racing at Grands Prix lately. In Mexico, Ferrari was even dramatically far off the lead.

Carlos Sainz is not worried yet anyway, he reported during the SkySports press conference. "We believe Mexico should be a one off. We've never been so far off the pace in the dry all year. We didn't get it right. Now we focus on Brazil and Abu Dhabi, important races towards the end of the season. We want to get the pace back, fighting with Red Bull and Mercedes. A smooth weekend where we can prepare for next year. 

Challenging

Sainz is already cautiously looking back on the year. "It's been a challenging season. A challenging first third of the season where I struggled with the car balance and driving style. Didn't suit me straight out of the box. Second two-thirds I've been happier with the car, and more on the pace but lots of DNFs and reliability issues."

Sainz thinks Ferrari did not have a good second half of the season. "Mercedes and Red Bull had a better second half of the season, even though I'm up to speed with the car and had a solid weekend in Mexico, maximum I could get was P5. A bit unfortunate, but I've learnt a lot. I am proud of the progress I've done with the engineers, the way we managed to turn my pace around. I will make sure next year we get back to the consistent Carlos of 2021," Sainz said.