Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Sochi Autodrom, 2021

Sainz “still not 100 percent at home” in Ferrari after third podium

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In the round-up: Carlos Sainz Jnr admitted he still doesn’t feel entirely comfortable in his Ferrari despite scoring his third top-three finish for the team in Sochi.

In brief

Crashes show I’m not at home in car yet – Sainz

After the first 15 races of his first season with Ferrari, Sainz leads team mate Charles Leclerc by 8.5 points in the championship. However he says a series is crashes in recent races have occured because he still isn’t entirely comfortable in the SF21.

“We’ve used opportunities to score those three podiums. But I guess you have seen it from the outside that I’m not still 100 percent at home with a car.”

Sainz said his recent crashes are atypical for him. “I’ve never crashed in my career, I’m a driver that never puts it in the wall and for some reason that there’s been a few crashes that shows that I still don’t fully understand 100 understand the car.”

Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Zandvoort, 2021
Sainz crashed in practice at Zandvoort
In Sochi, where he qualified on the front row and took third place, Sainz said he “made a conscious effort also to take it step-by-step through free practice and quali, and being fast really when I need to be fast instead of being fast straightaway in FP1.”

“It has worked well,” he believes. “It has given me a good confidence and I’ve been quick all weekend and I’ve been feeling at home.”

IndyCar junior series titles wrapped up

IndyCar’s junior categories concluded one week after the main series, in Mid-Ohio. Kyle Kirkwood clinched the Indy Lights title in the final race despite finishing outside of the top two places for the first time since June. Fifth for Andretti driver Kirkwood secured the title ahead of his HMD rival David Malukas, who came in second behind Linus Lundqvist as the curtain fell on a series which did not run in 2020 due to the pandemic.

During the same weekend Christian Rasmussen wrapped up the Indy Pro 2000 title and Kiko Porto put the USF2000 crown out of his rivals’ reach with a race to spare.

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Comment of the day

Is Formula 1 at risk of over-reacting to the washed-out Belgian Grand Prix?

I’m not sure there actually needs to be a “solution” to wet weather running.

The conditions at spa were extremely rare, where there was persistent heavy rain coupled with almost no wind. It was the lack of wind that was a huge part of the problem, because wind is needed to disperse water thrown up by the tyres.

Why are we so fixated on a situation that in recent years has happened only once? Surely with the massive number of races per year as single washout once in a blue mood is not really going to be an issue.

Another example of trying to fix a problem that isn’t a problem. Certainly allow for earlier start times, but that’s about all that is required.
DB-C90 (@Dbradock)

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On this day in motorsport

  • 35 years ago today Emerson Fittipaldi won the CART Indycar Road America 200, which had been postponed by 13 days following heavy rain on its original date

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21 comments on “Sainz “still not 100 percent at home” in Ferrari after third podium”

  1. Seems to me Sainz can’t defend a position for his life.

    1. Absolutely, no matter the points situation, leclerc to me is still a long way above him.

      1. No too sure about that. If Sainz is ahead on points it means he is converting races positions in races into points. Yes for sure, Lecllerc is seen as a better driver but he more he does what he is doing the morere dynamic withinnth team will change.

    2. Sounds like Sainz and Ricciardo are still looking for excuses

    3. @esteban Don’t worry, he’ll talk himself out.

  2. Not a bad return of results for Sainz if he’s still not comfortable in the car!

    Given next year the cars will be new to everyone, he’s had chance to bed in with the staff at Ferrari this season, and will start level pegging with Leclerc next year.

    Remember there wasn’t much between Max & Sainz at Toro Rosso…

    1. Problem was Max learned very fast almost every race you saw going faster. Daniel teached Max a lot on qualifly which made him faster overall.

      But Sainz was more experienced as he was much older then Max but i find he improved himself a lot much slower pace but clearer to see.

    2. @gabf1 only .4 of a second….

  3. Sainz has crashed before, though, but otherwise, I agree with him.
    Next season, he should only be better as everyone will effectively start on an equal level, given the car concept.

    Through the CBC post, I found out JV lived in Monaco and Switzerland while racing in F1.
    I suppose moving from one to the other at some point in either order.

    The Ricciardo article is good. The only inaccurate point is Melbourne would kick off next season.

    I couldn’t agree more with COTD. Rainy as extreme is indeed rare, so a non-issue in the big picture.

  4. CD (@clipperdael)
    4th October 2021, 9:48

    Best weekend performance easily goes to Elfyn Evans in Rally Finland to me. Only Breen (until the last couple stages) and Tanak managed to stay close but it never seemed like they’d really have a chance.
    The entire rally was fantastic in general, those Finnish forests look amazing in autumn. Saturday’s last stage in particular was great with the sun going down and the drivers ripping it through the narrow roads with lights on.

    1. CD (@clipperdael)
      4th October 2021, 9:51

      * ripping it through the forest on those narrow roads, that is
      The didn’t literally burrow into the ground lol

    2. @clipperdael Based on Friday, Tänak appeared to run away, followed by Breen until Evans suddenly found pace on Saturday, which proved decisive. Breen, on the other hand, started to lose out more and more.
      I’m happy Rally Finland at this time of year will remain a one-off thing rather than become a new standard.
      Summer is better for climatic reasons.

      1. CD (@clipperdael)
        5th October 2021, 7:24

        @jerejj true, Friday it was quite up in the air still, though it has to be said Evans spent that entire day starting as second car on the road

        1. @clipperdael True, his starting position was more unideal than the Hyundai duos.

          1. duo’s

  5. As if Sainz didn’t crash before, or that it wasn’t his driving that caused the crashes, but then he actually admits it with praising his new step-by-step driving approach through the weekend in Russia now. I bet it helped a lot that he knew he wouldn’t start behind Leclerc yet again with Charles’ engine penalty, allowing him to take it easy and not over-drive in order to keep up.

    1. @balue sainz jr is one of the best drivers of all time – kanye west

    2. That could be said about ever team mate who has a penalty to deal with during a race weekend. It is mostly the luck of the draw. It happens. If Sainz continues to pick up points, and at the end of the season is still ahead, his consistency could give him the edge with the team. That is not what most of us expected with this pairing at Ferrari. Early days yet of course, no need yet for Leclerc to start looking over his shoulder.

      1. Consistently lucky

        1. Hi Balue, I can see that, as soon as an articule from Sainz is publish, you start immediately and constantly to criticize him. No matter what is the topic you go against! A bit to much!!

          1. What’s too much is the endless stream of ‘Sainz said’ articles here, and like I said before, I can’t stand conceited bragging or fakery and will push back against it if no one else does.

            Where’s for example your comment about Sainz ‘never crashed’ lie here? That was fine, but somebody calling him out on it wasn’t?

Comments are closed.