Carlos Sainz feels Las Vegas GP’s track is “better suited” for Ferrari than recent races

With two rounds left in the 2023 F1 season, Carlos Sainz remains the only non-Red Bull driver to have won a Grand Prix this season. Heading into the penultimate race in Las Vegas, the Spaniard believes Ferrari can produce a good result.

Sainz won the Singapore GP earlier in the second half of the season and is hoping to repeat the feat on the streets of Las Vegas.

Similar to the layout at Monza, the 3.853-mile (6.201 km) track at Las Vegas consists of plenty of straights, benefitting the strengths of the SF-23. Speaking to the media ahead of the Las Vegas GP, Carlos Sainz said that he is hoping for a better result than the mediocre results in the recent triple header.

“[I have] better hope than recently mainly because the truck looks probably a bit more suited to us than recent tracks,” he told the media including Sportskeeda.

The Spaniard reckoned the SF-23 would suffer in the first sector but gain lap time over the rest of the track. Comparing the traction zones and the long straights of the layout to Singapore and Monza, Sainz added:

“Long straights like in Monza, tight corners, like in Monza or Singapore. Maybe there's the combination of Turn 1 and 2 where we will not be very quick. But then the rest of the track I think our car should be better suited than recent events. And hopefully, that gives us a better opportunity.”

Carlos Sainz stole the pole position in Monza and Singapore, where he converted the latter into his second career victory. The Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Sainz are expected to be quick around the Vegas circuit, with the low track temperatures further helping the SF-23.

A solid result this weekend will help the Scuderia close the 20-point gap to rival Mercedes in the constructors' standings.

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Carlos Sainz enjoyed winning the Netflix Cup but regrets breaking the trophy

The Ferrari driver won the Netflix Cup, where he was teamed with pro-golfer Justin Thomas. They were first pitted against Lando Norris and Rickie Fowler, and then against Pierre Gasly and Tony Finau in the final.

The Netflix Cup

Carlos Sainz called it a great way to start his weekend in Las Vegas. Speaking about the event he said:

"Everyone, I guess, knows by now that I'm a big golf fan, golf freak, golf addict, however you want to call it and yeah, to get to play golf with the pros and to get to do it in a live event for Netflix in such a cool setting like the Wynn Hotel and with all the fans there, a proper set-up like they always do here and to get to win it was a great feeling."

While Sainz regretted breaking the trophy, he reckoned he found a cooler memento as he added:

"Not so much obviously breaking the trophy but good to actually get the chequered flag jacket, that I actually found even cooler than the trophy and yeah, good way to start winning the week."