F1: Ferrari criticism 'pulling us down'

(GMM) Carlos Sainz has hit out at the Italian media for weeks of negative coverage about the start of Ferrari’s 2023 campaign.

The Spanish driver says the negativity is not helping the fabled Maranello team to improve.

“You have to realize that no one is more upset or angry or unhappy about the situation than everyone here,” said Sainz.

“We are the first to not like the situation, and we are the ones who are going full throttle to turn the situation around. And sometimes the comments are more of a distraction and pull us down even more instead of helping us.”

Some of the Ferrari criticism is even in-house, with Lapo Elkann hinting on social media that his brother John Elkann is not present enough at Maranello.

When one user insisted that “in the eyes of us fans, the presidency is absent”, Lapo Elkann replied: “Unfortunately, I know.”

John Elkann, however, told a Ferrari shareholders’ meeting late last week: “Last year we were able to improve our performance significantly.

“Our goal now is and remains to win the world title. Fred (Vasseur) is concentrating on achieving this goal together with the whole team.”

Ferrari’s determination for every single point is also evident in the appeal against Sainz’s controversial Melbourne penalty for a clash with Fernando Alonso.

The FIA has set the online appeal hearing date for Tuesday morning.

Aston Martin boss Mike Krack, meanwhile, admits that although the team he leads is ahead of both Mercedes and Ferrari, Aston Martin is having to look backwards as well as ahead to dominant Red Bull.

“We are substantially behind Red Bull,” he told Auto Motor und Sport. “Even if they stand still, the gap would be too big to catch them in one season.

“Of course we take the fastest car as a reference, but we are constantly looking at the gaps with respect to Ferrari, Mercedes and Alpine.

“We have to be realistic. We have to look ahead, but we also have to look at third and fourth place. Things can change very quickly,” Krack added.