Ferrari needs a win to boost confidence

Ferrari started the season as main challenger to Red Bull and Max Verstappen, but through various errors and reliability issues, Sainz and Charles Leclerc are stuck at just four wins combined.

Their last win came in July's Austrian Grand Prix courtesy of Leclerc, while Verstappen continued to run riot and expected to seal his second world title in this weekend's Japanese Grand Prix. Rather than challenging Red Bull, Ferrari had to start looking over its shoulder as Mercedes narrowed the gap to second in the constructors' championship.

Regardless of this year's standings, Sainz feels another win would give Ferrari a much-needed shot in the arm as it looks to regroup and learn from its mistakes for 2023.

"For us, I think it's an interesting fight, still," Sainz said. "Our target as a team is obviously to win races and prepare well for next season because obviously, this year P1 is already too difficult in both constructors' and drivers' championship, so we're focused on trying to win races."

"I think winning one race before the end of the season would give us a lot of good feelings and motivation going into next season because it's been a while since our last win. Winning would mean executing our perfect weekend and that is also what we will need."

In Singapore, Leclerc and Sainz had to settle for second and third behind Sergio Perez. It felt for the first time Red Bull could pull away much easily for better car pace.

"I think we know we were very far off the pace at Zandvoort and Spa," Sainz explained. "We were a bit faster in Monza and Singapore has been better and we've been closer to Red Bull. Not quicker in the race but closer and more in the fight."