Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz both spoke of the work their teams need to do as they prepare to face off once again at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Ferrari might have the slightly better car overall this year, but have thrown away dozens of points through reliability problems and driver error. The most recent came last weekend in France, where Charles Leclerc crashed while leading the race.
Verstappen cruised to victory in his absence and the Red Bull star now has a 63-point advantage over Leclerc in the drivers' standings. But he insists there is still a job to do to make sure he remains at the top by the end of the year.
Asked if he plans to relax safe in the knowledge he has one hand on the title during the summer break, he told reporters in Budapest: "I think if you know me you know I will not be laying on the beach.
"And second of all I don't really care about the points gap, because for me it's all about trying to be perfect every single race weekend. When you have that gap it's not like you relax or something – I still want to win more races and that's what we'll try to do as a team."
Answering the same question, Sainz could not resist a little joke at his rival's expense: "Oh definitely," he replied. "I'm a big fan of the beach and of the sea. But at the same time some quality time with family and friends – not Max, I will not see him. I think I see him enough here. Who knows, maybe we will find each other in Ibiza."
But then came the serious answer, as the Spaniard laid out the seemingly massive task facing Ferrari to reel in the defending champion and his team. ""I think it is clear for Ferrari what we need to do, which is to win those races that Max wants to win," Sainz added.
"Getting those 25 points makes quite a big difference in the points swing. I think there's still a lot of things that could happen up there at the front – there's always a great battle going on between the two teams which I think is going to keep going until the end of the year.
"It is true at some point we need a bit of help from Red Bull in terms of reliability and DNFs, but even without those statistically if it's open, it's open. Until it's impossible, you need to keep believing and you need to keep trying to win everything you can and keep yourself in the fight. We're going to keep trying, keep improving as a team because whatever we can learn this year can also be used for the next few years."
