Sainz piles pressure on Mercedes over Ferrari fight

Carlos Sainz believes Mercedes cannot afford any mistakes in its battle with Ferrari for second in the 2023 Formula 1 Constructors' Championship.

The higher a team finishes in the Constructors' table, the more prize money it is entitled to at the end of a season.

Sainz's Ferrari is currently trailing Mercedes by 20 points, with Ferrari on 362 and the Silver Arrows leading on 382 points.

With 88 points up for grabs in the final two races, Sainz believes that while Mercedes has the upper hand in races the team can capitalise on applying the pressure.

"Given the points are done on Sunday and that's where the Mercedes comes stronger and we are the weakest, I think for sure they have a bit of the upper hand," Sainz told media, including RacingNews365.

"But at least we're managing to keep the pressure on and they cannot afford to make any mistakes because we're there to capitalise on them. It's a fun battle.

"We're always very close to each other in the races. Normally, it's them chasing us or overtaking us in the race and hopefully we can reverse that in the last three races and at least not get overtaken and manage to finish ahead because that's where the points are given."

Sainz: We tend to do better in qualifying

The recent race in Brazil gave Ferrari some encouragement that Mercedes still suffers at high degradation circuits after Charles Leclerc noted its main weakness was dropping back in the races.

Sainz elaborated by noting problems Ferrari is currently facing with the tyres, which often impact them most at the end of a race stint.

"We always tend to do better in qualifying than we do in the race. Then we have the inconsistency of the stints," said Sainz.

"There are some stints during the year that we've been very good in the race, and then other stints that we've lost out a lot depending on the compound, on track conditions and the way we treat the tyre."