Carlos Sainz Jr believes that Ferrari can finally put pressure on runaway Formula 1 championship leader Max Verstappen at the Singapore Grand Prix, now engine penalties are out of the way. Sainz was forced to take engine penalties at Monza, dropping him to the back of the grid for the Italian race while teammate Charles Leclerc was on Pole Position with Verstappen seventh after his own penalty. While Sainz made his way through the field to finish fourth, Verstappen carved through those ahead, leaving Ferrari to attempt a two-stop race in a bid to try an alternative strategy to beat the Red Bull driver. It proved unsuccessful, but Sainz believes that now the planned penalties are out of the way, the Scuderia can begin to challenge Verstappen more often.
Impressed by the unexpected pace of the Ferrari on home soil, Sainz believed he could have fought the Dutchman had he been in a normal position. "We were more competitive than what we expected coming into Monza, and I'm hopeful that starting in Singapore we're going to put Max under pressure," Sainz explained to media including RacingNews365.com. "I think if I would have been up there, we would have put Max under a lot more pressure and could have played with different strategies. "It's a shame that we couldn't have two Ferraris battling with Max because we could have split strategies and put Max under a bit more pressure and maybe get it a bit more right. "To be honest, they were they were very quick again [at Monza], and they are making very few mistakes and we need to find ways to beat them."
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