“Not Worried” About Leclerc & Sainz, Max Verstappen Rubs Salt in Ferrari’s Age Old Wounds to Give Reality Check

One thing that has been lacking at Ferrari for almost over a decade now is consistency. They have had the resources and the men behind the job. However, the final product has always been a disjointed orchestra that’s built up for failure. That being said, the most iconic team in Formula 1 history has been given a chance to redeem themselves, and that too on home turf. After cornering Max Verstappen into a Ferrari sandwich for the race tomorrow, the Scuderia will be hopeful for a strong result. But the Dutch lion has dashed those hopes instead.

Carlos Sainz starts from a well-deserved pole on Sunday, whilst his teammate, Charles Leclerc sits just behind Verstappen in 3rd. The game plan would obviously be to hassle the Dutch lion and claim a Ferrari win on Italian soil for the first time since 2019. But even though Verstappen didn’t quite have the pace today, he silenced all the hopes and dreams of the Tifosi with just one hard-hitting statement.

Max Verstappen shuts Ferrari down

Even in the recent past, Ferrari has been fast. But speed can only get you so much. The Scuderia has been suffering from internal goof-ups and inherent flaws of the SF-23 this year. That is exactly why Max Verstappen isn’t going to lose any sleep in the buildup to race day.

After he Qualified 2nd with the slimmest of margins, Verstappen told the media, “I felt good in FP3, we are generally stronger in the long runs. I’m not too worried, ofcourse, they [Ferrari] will be quick at the start, and then it’s about who can keep their tyres alive the longest.”

Verstappen has been studying the Scuderia from the start of the season, and that’s how he exposed their biggest Achilles’ heel.

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Ferrari confirm Verstappen’s suspicions

Verstappen isn’t stressed about overcoming the Ferrari cars of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz tomorrow. And quite blatantly he’s put it on the actual characteristics of the SF-23 that destroys their tires. But is there any truth to Verstappen’s prophecy?

Sainz himself corroborated this early on in the season when Motorsport Magazine quoted him as revealing, “We still ‘deg’ more than the Mercs, we still deg more than the Astons, we still lack a bit of race pace. It’s tire deg, balance, dirty air when following, we just struggle a bit. If we already overheat the tires in clean air, imagine following. We just eat them alive and we need clean air to produce some kind of decent lap time.”

Can Ferrari latch onto their tires and win at the Italian GP or is Max Verstappen going to win his record-breaking 10th consecutive F1 race on Sunday?

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