Why Sainz is key to Ferrari achieving its chairman's F1 goals

Although Ferrari's chances of title glory in 2022 have evaporated, chairman John Elkann expects the team to have chalked up both championships by 2026. Both require drivers to play the team game and, having now become more comfortable with the F1-75, Carlos Sainz may be Ferrari's key to title glory

Ferrari has almost nothing left to fight for over the remainder of the 2022 Formula 1 season. After wins for Charles Leclerc in Bahrain and Australia that offered so much promise, genuine shots at the drivers’ and constructors’ championship crowns have been snuffed out through engine unreliability, crashes, poor pitstops, silly strategy, and Red Bull’s potency.

Now that Imola and Monza have come and gone, there’s not even the consolation prize of a home victory. What’s more, prior to the summer break, team principal Mattia Binotto reckoned there was “no reason” why the Scuderia couldn’t win all remaining races. Now, it seems fair to ask whether a Ferrari driver will take to the top step of the podium again with six rounds to go as Max Verstappen chases his sixth win in succession this weekend in Singapore.

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Author Matt Kew

Matt Kew is Autosport’s F1 Editor, a role he has held since March 2022 following stints covering Formula E, Extreme E and the British Touring Car Championship.

Matt joined Autosport in 2018 to work predominantly on the magazine, but his relentless quoting of Alan Partridge meant office colleagues soon thought he would be better-suited to increased field work.

Needless to say, Matt had the last laugh when he won the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award in 2019.

His interest in motorsport was sparked by regular trips to watch ASCAR crash around Rockingham’s banked oval.

Matt read politics and philosophy at the University of Sheffield - receiving first-class honours for his dissertation assessing the lack of female participation in top-tier motor racing.

He covered a wide variety of national race and rally meetings for Autosport as a freelancer before joining full-time. His best efforts to argue the merits of historic racing are undone by a questionable taste in music and James Bond actors.