Carlos Sainz is refusing to throw in the towel at such an early stage of the Formula One season 바카라 insisting he has 바카라nothing to lose바카라 in his last year at Ferrari. (More Motorsport News)
After Max Verstappen led home a dominant Red Bull one-two in Sunday바카라s Japanese Grand Prix, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said the Dutchman was uncatchable this year.
Having clinched the previous three drivers바카라 titles, Verstappen is once again the overwhelming favourite to claim the crown.
He has won three of the opening four races, with a brake failure causing him to retire early on at the Australian Grand Prix last month 바카라 where Sainz went on to take the chequered flag.
The Spaniard was back in action after missing the Saudi Arabia Grand Prix with appendicitis and, having finished third behind the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Sergio Perez at Suzuka, he was not ready to cede the fight.
In what will be the longest season in F1 history 바카라 there are still 20 races left with four having been run 바카라 Sainz is hopeful Ferrari can improve across the course of the year, although he also doubted if that would be enough to haul in Verstappen.
바카라I think they are definitely going to have an advantage in the first third of the season until we bring one or two upgrades that makes us fight them more consistently,바카라 he said.
바카라By that time, maybe it바카라s a bit too late with the advantage that they might have on the championship. In the meantime, we need more Australias! Which I don바카라t see Red Bull, as a team, making these mistakes very often, no.
바카라It is a shame, because also I missed a race, which for both the team and me, it could be costly in the championship. We바카라re competing in one race less, but at the same time, we바카라re going to give it our best shot.
바카라It바카라s my last year in Ferrari also, so yeah, nothing to lose and we will try everything to make it back.바카라
Sainz has lost his seat to Lewis Hamilton from next year, the seven-time world champion moving across to partner Charles Leclerc from 2025 onwards.
Hamilton will be hoping to return to a competitive car, with Mercedes struggling for another season this time around.
The 39-year-old has amassed just 10 points so far 바카라 his worst-ever tally after the opening four races of a season.
Wolff labelled Hamilton바카라s first run on the hard tyres in Japan as 바카라atrocious바카라 and the Brit himself was bullish when asked if he could have improved on his ninth-placed finish.
바카라I don바카라t know what the different strategy would have been, whether if we stayed on the mediums to start with, but we still had two really terrible hard tyres to run through,바카라 he said.
바카라It was a real challenge, I think I picked up a bit of damage at the beginning with Charles (Leclerc) when he came around the outside and I had huge understeer for the first stint.
바카라I couldn바카라t turn the car through any of the corners. That바카라s why I let (team-mate) George (Russell) through.
바카라The hard tyre was pretty bad, as I said, the medium tyre was much better. So for sure, in hindsight it looks like we should have had two (sets of) medium tyres but in general the car, it was just pretty bad.바카라
A return to China is next on the calendar, with the Shanghai International Circuit hosting its first grand prix since 2019 and with the first sprint race of the season also taking place.
