Sainz knows: 'Gap with Red Bull and Mercedes grows'

Two poles (Monaco and Baku) and almost a victory at Silverstone. It suggests that Ferrari smells a return to the top. Yet the last few races have been a lot harder. In Mexico, Ferrari qualified nine-tenths of Bottas. In the race, winner Charles Leclerc finished 81 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen. The worries increase.

The gap in Mexico shows that there is still room for improvement. " A lot has happened since Monaco," Carlos Sainz told Motorsport-Total. "The top teams have developed their cars a lot and you can see that Mercedes and Red Bull have a bigger gap than at the beginning of the season." Not a nice conclusion for Ferrari, then. "The track has just exposed our weaknesses".

Even more annoying for Ferrari is that the direct competition also seems to be getting closer. For the Spaniard, the surprise was AlphaTauri, which managed to take fourth place with Pierre Gasly. "They were just as fast as us, maybe even a tenth of a second faster," he says. Moreover, during the qualification the difference between Gasly and the polesitter Bottas was only six tenths.

Ferrari may be in for another tough weekend in Brazil. The last time F1 raced at Interlagos it was Pierre Gasly who came out on top. The Frenchman finished second.