Sainz spots possible Ferrari advantage over McLaren

Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari will be closer to McLaren at the high speed circuits, following its defeat in the high-downforce Japanese Grand Prix.

McLaren has managed to turn around its form with the MCL60 since the Austrian Grand Prix, with Lando Norris now the second-highest points scorer in the last eight races behind Max Verstappen.

While Ferrari has been the only team so far to defeat Red Bull, Sainz anticipates that it will be easier to match McLaren at the high-speed tracks such as the upcoming races in the United States and Mexico, after the team put in a of work over the summer break to understand its package, which has put it closer to McLaren.

Sainz: We will have a race with McLaren

When asked if he thinks Ferrari can challenge McLaren on pure pace, Sainz told media, including RacingNews365: "At the high speed circuits? Yes.

"When we go to places like Mexico, even Austin, with more low speed content we will be very close to them and we will have a race with McLaren.

"[At Suzuka] I think Lando especially was a couple of times quicker per lap, Piastri whenever I had clean air I had some very strong laps comparable to him, I just would have preferred it cleaner."