Carlos Sainz had yet another disappointing outing at the Hungaroring last Sunday, as the Spanish driver failed to capitalize on his strong start and finished P8. Sainz, following his poor result, also got furious at Ferrari and blamed them for ruining his race to compensate for Charles Leclerc’s poor pitstop.
Sainz has been in Ferrari since 2021 and in his two-and-a-half seasons so far, has managed to grab only one win and three pole positions. This is in addition to the 13 podiums he has had with the Maranello-based outfit so far. Admittedly, Leclerc’s number of race wins and pole positions have been more, which has seemingly made him the favored driver at the prancing horses.
We know it’s not where we want to be, but we’ll give it a big push next week in Spa 👊 #HungarianGP 🇭🇺 #F1 pic.twitter.com/Rv1gOnXPow
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 23, 2023
Following this string of underwhelming results and slowly becoming the clear number two driver on the grid, Ralf Schumacher believes that Sainz’s father Carlos Sainz Sr. has already begun looking for alternatives on the track.
Sainz’s departure from Ferrari is on the brink?
According to Racingnews365‘s report, Schumacher is of the opinion that Sainz Sr. might look to place Sainz in Audi. The 61-year-old is a motorsports legend himself, and has a good relationship with the German giants from his Dakar Rally background.
Admittedly, Audi is set to enter F1 in 2026 when the new regulations shake the field up once again. Ralf Schumacher also added that Sainz, who was once very happy at Ferrari, has lost faith in the team completely.
🇭🇺Good start, making 5 places in the first lap, but we didn’t have the pace on the Hards compared to the top. We will discuss internally as always. We were expecting more and we need to work on our weaknesses.
–#CarlosSainz pic.twitter.com/yo0Lhg00lO
— Carlos Sainz (@Carlossainz55) July 23, 2023
Sainz’s loss of faith is down to poor strategies repeatedly affecting his results. Apart from the recent Hungarian GP race, Ferrari also failed Sainz in Monaco, where a good strategy could have allowed him to finish in the top three.
Will Carlos Sainz be good enough for Audi?
Speaking about the potential switch from Ferrari to Audi, Ralf Schumacher added that Carlos Sainz usually has hits and misses in a season. This makes him believe that Sainz may not perform well, even if he moves to Audi.
Audi, when they enter F1 will need an experienced driver who can lead from the front. Schumacher, however, feels that Sainz is not particularly up for this job, because of the several mistakes he makes.
The Ferrari star is currently in P6 in the drivers’ championship with 87 points. He trails his teammate Charles Leclerc by seven points, who is in P7. As things stand, it’ll be interesting to see if he can improve from here on and at least get the better of his teammate by the end of the season.
