Carlos Sainz delivers prediction on when Max Verstappen’s winning run will end

Carlos Sainz maintains belief that Max Verstappen and Red Bull can be beaten in F1 2023, but does not want Formula 1 to do anything to artificially make that happen.

Red Bull have taken the current Formula 1 campaign by storm, boasting a perfect record of 12 wins from 12, with 10 of those going the way of Max Verstappen.

It means that with 10 rounds remaining, the title double is effectively already secured, while Sainz’s Ferrari team have been left to battle with Mercedes, Aston Martin and McLaren over the ‘best of the rest’ P2 spot in the Constructors’ standings.

Additional reporting by Sam Cooper

Carlos Sainz senses end to Max Verstappen and Red Bull winning streak

The F1 2023 summer shutdown provided some relief from the Verstappen onslaught, but with the Dutchman heading into his home race looking to equal Sebastian Vettel’s record of nine wins in a row, the chances of Verstappen not winning the 2023 Dutch Grand Prix are extremely slim.

In fact, considering the margin Verstappen has over the chasing pack, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that he wins all the way to the end of the season, which would see Red Bull become the first ever team to record an undefeated F1 campaign.

Sainz though does not subscribe to such a “drastic” and “dramatic” way of thinking.

Asked by media, including PlanetF1.com, what he feels like arriving at a circuit knowing Verstappen will win the grand prix, Sainz replied: “I don’t fully believe Max is going to win every weekend. I know you guys see it in a very drastic dramatic way.

“Obviously I know what my chances or my probabilities are, but there’s still a probability that Ferrari can win a race this season and that I can be there to win it.

“And I think no one’s perfect. Hopefully at some point during the season Red Bull make some mistake and I go into every weekend thinking I need to be there to grab it. That’s my mentality. That’s my focus, trying to be there for any given opportunity.

“Because even in the most dominant years of Mercedes or Red Bull, or Ferrari, there was always one race that you could make the difference or something could happen.

“As a driver you live, especially is these kind of years, you live a bit on that motivation or in that thinking, and if not, I have plenty of motivation to fight for podiums, to fight for top fives.

“I love Formula 1, I love going to race every weekend with Ferrari and I love having the opportunity to also develop this year’s car, give the feedback and see the impact that I can have on next year’s car. This is also what a driver lives for and I love that challenge.”

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Carlos Sainz does not want Red Bull slowed down

In years gone by of one-team dominance in Formula 1, it has not been uncommon for the series’ governing body, the FIA, to introduce rule changes and directives which carry the potential to knock that dominant force off their perch.

Sainz though is fully against such a way of thinking to reel Red Bull back in.

“I always try to put myself in the position of others when I’m analysing these questions,” he said.

“And I say if my team had done what Red Bull has done and I am doing the job that Max is doing, I wouldn’t like Formula 1 to change anything because I think they deserve to be in the position they’re in and they’ve simply done an incredible job with this year’s car.

“Max is driving at a very high level, he obviously also has a bit of margin to do a mistake here and there and still win the race, but he’s not doing any big mistakes, Red Bull is not doing any mistakes and unless proven the opposite, they deserve to have the success they’re having.

“Because [it’s an] equal opportunity for everyone and they’re beating us and they are dominating F1 in a fair and square way.

“Congratulations and keep enjoying, we will try to get better as soon as possible.”

Ferrari sit P4 in the current Constructors’ standings but will have P2 in their sights before the season is done, the gap to Mercedes, who currently hold that position, coming in at 56 points.