Sainz wants sacrifice for 2024 Ferrari after reliability concerns

Carlos Sainz would rather Ferrari improve its race pace instead of focusing on reliability for the 2024 Formula 1 season.

Ferrari has suffered poor reliability with the SF-23 since the start of the season, when Charles Leclerc was hit with a 10-place grid penalty for changing his control electronics at the second race in Saudi Arabia.

Both cars also failed to start races back-to-back in Mexico and Brazil due to failures, with Sainz out before the race due to a fuel tank issue and Leclerc out on the formation lap from second on the grid with a transmission problem respectively.

When asked if he would like to see reliability become a number one priority for Ferrari in 2024, he told media including RacingNews365: "100 per cent. At the same time I prefer a team that shows progress in terms of pace.

"[I'd rather] learn with a car that is not fighting for the championship, than one of the races of reliability.

"For sure if we want to be the whole package, we need to improve how tight we arrive to the end of the season [on parts]."

Sainz: Don't judge us on last two races

Sainz has endured a run of bad luck in the final couple of races, including his car striking a drain cover in Las Vegas which destroyed his chassis and led to a four-hour delay in track action.

He also crashed in the opening ten minutes of FP2 in Abu Dhabi when he hit a bump at Turn 3, while a strategy error in qualifying forced him to start from the rear of the grid in the race.

The Spaniard, who is the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023, believes people should not judge Ferrari on the last two races alone.

"It's been a decent year for me, I think we've had a more consistent year," said Sainz.

"I'm not happy with the last two races, I think we've had a much stronger season than what these last two weekends have shown.

"The way that everything has gone wrong for me in these last two races has been quite dramatic in a way, but it is what it is - sometimes the years go like this.

"Normally the end of season is my biggest strength and this season it hasn't. We need to sit down, analyse what I could have done better for the last couple of races and comeback strong."