Carlos Sainz backs Ferrari championship ability despite form nosedive

Carlos Sainz claims Ferrari has "a team to fight for a championship" despite the Scuderia's recent poor form heading into this weekend's Canadian Grand Prix.

Ferrari began the season with a one-two for Charles Leclerc and Sainz in Bahrain, but since then results have been hard to come by.

Although Leclerc took his second victory of the year in Australia, in the five races since Ferrari has scored just 86 points - 13 fewer than struggling Mercedes and a a haul which is utterly dwarfed by Red Bull's 225.

Ferrari's last championship success came in 2008, when the team won the constructors' crown, while its last drivers' title was achieved with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

Despite the recent struggles, Sainz said: "I think we have a team to fight for a championship. It is true that we are against the recent world champions and a great team like Red Bull but they DNFd in Bahrain. We just did the same in Azerbaijan.

"It just shows in 22-race season, these kinds of things will happen once in a while and we need to learn from it and we need to make sure it doesn't happen again like Red Bull seems to have solved their issues."

Ferrari failure allowance 'depends on Red Bull'

Red Bull began the season with a double-DNF of its own in Bahrain but has suffered just one retirement since. By contrast, Ferrari has now failed to reach the flag on five occasions, three times with Sainz and twice with Leclerc.

This swing has resulted in Red Bull building an 80-point lead in the championship race.

Asked how many more retirements Ferrari can afford, Sainz joked: "[It] depends on how many more Red Bull have!

"If Red Bull have another five then we can afford a couple more. But no, I am joking.

"The objective is not to have any but this is always the target of any team. It is just issues come without you expecting them. If not, we would all be magicians predicting the future.

"But it is part of our year, it can happen and I am sure if we stay united with the great team we have formed, we will react accordingly and be better next time."

Additional reporting by Ewan Gale.

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