Overtaking Charles Leclerc in the championship standings the last of Carlos Sainz's worries after the 2023 F1 Dutch GP

Carlos Sainz is not focused on the battle with his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc in the driver’s championship in the 2023 season.

Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, after the Dutch GP, the Ferrari driver showed optimism for the next weekend in Monza.

Finishing in fifth place at the race in Zandvoort, the Spanish driver has now overtaken his Monegasque teammate in the driver’s championship.

Prior to the Dutch race, the Spaniard was four points behind his teammate, whereas now he is three points ahead. The last time he was ahead of his teammate in the standings was in the 2021 season, where he had consistent performances throughout.

Asked by Sportskeeda if overtaking his teammate gave him optimism and meant much, Carlos Sainz replied:

“No the last of my worries right now is the battle with Charles, given the position we are both in, at tracks like these. We need to focus on developing the car and making the team understand what is going on in certain corners and certain tracks. Our fight in the championship is a lot less priority.”

On whether the current result gave him any optimism looking forward, Carlos Sainz said:

“Yeah but also one of the best executed weekends for the team. Next weekend in Monza, we should be back to a decent place. I know it sounds positive or optimistic right now but our performance swings this year are so high, that we could also be looking to be back to second or third fastest car in Monza, in front of the Tifosi."

He added:

"Especially after such a good result in Spa last time out. I am more optimistic about that and glad that in a tough weekend we still managed to finish in the top 5.”

According to Carlos Sainz, his prime priority is working with the team to develop his car, which makes the driver’s championship battle between him and Leclerc the last priority. Hailing the well-executed fifth-place finish, the Spaniard feels Ferrari will improve in Monza, where they could be back up the pecking order.

While their car clearly lacked performance in Zandvoort, the 28-year-old explained that the performance swings in their car have been extreme this season. He feels the Maranello team’s home race could have better fortunes in store, as it is a track that suits them.

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Carlos Sainz reckons Ferrari were the sixth fastest car in the Dutch GP

After a retirement in Spa, the fifth-place finish in Zandvoort is a relief for Carlos Sainz. The Ferrari team went into summer break with a third-place finish for Leclerc and a non-finish for the Spaniard.

But the Scarlet Squad clearly had the second fastest car in Belgium, whereas in Holland they were sixth fastest, according to the Spanish driver.

He believes they did not have the pace to fight Lewis Hamilton, who was much quicker than them. However, with rain and damp conditionslevelingg the field, the 28-year-old managed to defend his fifth place.

On whether the Zandvoort circuit had exposed their car’s weakness, Carlos Sainz said:

“Yeah I would say after looking at the Alpine, (we) more the sixth fastest car this weekend. But yeah we knew going into the race and going into yesterday’s quali, we were just lacking this weekend, so we had to just focus and maximise our result."

He continued:

"Quite a decent result and we did that today, even in the last stint when I knew I had a warm set of inters left to put for the seven laps and the tyres were destroyed from yesterday’s quali. I still managed to keep Hamilton behind and bring home a P5 that was honestly not on the cards sometimes today.”

Qualifying sixth for the Dutch race, Carlos Sainz had an electric start in the damp race but slid down the order due to a mistake on his first pitstop. The Ferrari driver surged through the grid on both dry and wet tarmac to bring home a strong result.

However, Leclerc had to retire as he succumbed to floor damage from contact with Oscar Piastri. The Ferrari drivers are now fifth and sixth in the championship, with the former leading the latter by three points.