Carlos Sainz Refutes Christian Horner’s 2024 Prophecy: “Purely Ferrari Ideas”

Sabyasachi Biswas
|Published Feb 19, 2024 03:50PM UTC

Christian Horner’s statement on rivals copying Red Bull’s car didn’t go well with Carlos Sainz. After the Austrian team had a mighty season in 2023, Horner believed rivals would copy the concept of the RB19 for their 2024 cars. Sainz has now refuted Horner’s declaration and revealed how the new SF-24 is purely based on Ferrari’s ideas.

The Spaniard told DAZN, as quoted by F1i.com, “I think it’s a very nice car, very different from the 2023 one. Ferrari’s engineers have innovated, there are things on the car that cannot be seen and which are purely Ferrari ideas which I am sure will give us greater performance.”

Furthermore, Sainz also added how the engineers at Maranello took elements from different teams to put them on the SF-24. He specifically mentioned Mercedes, Aston Martin, and Red Bull’s parts. But the #55 driver also asserted how this is very common in Formula 1. In the end, the SF-24 is purely masterminded by Ferrari, assured Sainz.

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Despite taking the only non-Red Bull victory in Singapore, Ferrari finished in distant third place in the Constructors’ Championship. They had 406 points compared to Red Bull’s 860. This prompted the Italian team to go for a complete overhaul of their last year’s challenger.

Nevertheless, Ferrari believes in the new SF-24 and hopes to reduce the massive gap they had against Red Bull. With Lewis Hamilton all set to arrive next season, they need to be in a really good place to help the seven-time world champion have a shot at the world championship.

Can Ferrari go toe-to-toe against Red Bull in 2024?

2023 saw Red Bull take a massive leap against its rivals when they took 21 wins out of 22 races. Their dominance was so supreme that Mercedes and Ferrari’s points gathered together were not enough to match the Milton Keynes team in the Constructors’ Championship.

2024 is the third year under these regulations. Therefore, experts believe Ferrari, Mercedes, McLaren, and Aston Martin have a better understanding of the regulations and can close the gap with Max Verstappen and Co. However, matching them or beating them might be out of the question this season.

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Red Bull launched the RB20 recently, and it baffled the fans. Adrian Newey brought in radical changes in the car with a vertical sidepod inlet and experts believe this is a massive jump toward the team’s upcoming dominance. While rivals were busy incorporating and taking inspiration from the RB19, Newey went a step ahead of the rest with RB20.

As for Carlos Sainz, he has to leave the team at the end of this season but remains committed to Ferrari for the time being. Despite proving his worth and being as good as Charles Leclerc, the Spaniard will have to part ways with Ferrari for Lewis Hamilton in 2025.

Post Edited By:Aishwary Gaonkar

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About the author

Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.