Carlos Sainz gave a rather uninspiring answer when asked what his goal is for 2023, after a promising but eventually underwhelming season for Ferrari.
Back in March, things were looking great for the Italian team. Charles Leclerc won in Bahrain with Sainz just behind him, while Red Bull were suffering some early-season gremlins which forced both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to retire late in that race.
Leclerc won again in Australia to make it two victories from three, while Verstappen again suffered a mechanical problem. With both teams around the same level for car performance, it looked like fans would be able to enjoy another titanic battle for the title like the one between the Dutchman and Lewis Hamilton last year.
But that's not how it played out. Instead, Ferrari started to suffer problems of their own while Red Bull got on top of theirs. Power unit frailties were only the tip of the iceberg, as some driver errors, disastrous strategy decisions and no small amount of bad luck also affected the Italian team, allowing their rivals to romp to both titles.
Now, based on evidence from the last two races in the USA and Mexico, they may not even be the second quickest team on the grid anymore. Mercedes have been off the pace all year but now look better placed to challenge Red Bull, while neither Leclerc nor Sainz were in the conversation for the win in Mexico City.
But 2023 will bring a new season and a new opportunity for Ferrari. That said, Sainz did not exactly inspire too much confidence when asked for his goal for next year. "To start at the level I am at now, which is quite decent, and to complicate things for Max," was the answer he gave to Car and Driver.
Pledging only to be a "complication" for Verstappen, rather than voicing a desire to be regularly beating the Red Bull race, hints he is not overly confident of being able to match him. "Max has had an incredible season, he deserves it. I think they are dominant, now Red Bull is being dominant. But at the beginning of the season, it is surely where he did an immense job," added Sainz.
Looking ahead to 2023 once again, the Spaniard called for his team to learn from the errors made in their title challenge which faltered badly in the middle of this season, and admitted that from his perspective it will be a waiting game to find out whether or not he will be given a car capable of winning races like their current machine has been able to.
"New year, new car, new rules even with the ground, we have another opportunity and I fully trust that the team will create another great car like the one we had this year, and we will learn from the mistakes made this year," he added. "I'm ready to fight and I'm looking forward to Mercedes too as it looks like they will join us at the front."
