Carlos Sainz Jnr has admitted he won’t be at “100%” as he returns to the cockpit this weekend for the Australian Grand Prix following surgery.
The Ferrari driver missed the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago following emergency surgery for appendicitis.Sainz was unwell but participated in the opening day of practice in Jeddah. However, his condition worsened and he was taken to hospital for surgery, forcing him to miss the remainder of the weekend. His seat was taken by Oliver Bearman, who finished seventh on debut.
Having spent the last fortnight recovering, Sainz will race this weekend at Albert Park.
“I feel ready,” Sainz said. “I’ve done as much as possible to recover.
“You cannot imagine the effort and logistics and things that I’ve done to be fit for this race. I’m very happy with the progress I’ve made and now it’s time to jump in the car and see how I feel.”
However, Sainz acknowledged he will not be at full fitness or at full speed this weekend due to the recovery required for him over the last two weeks to be well enough to race.
“It’s not like I’ll be 100% for it, because obviously I’ve been ten days in bed, not ten days training, going to the simulator and preparing for a normal weekend,” he said.
“But if I’m fit to race and don’t have any pain or any bad symptoms, I can still put together a strong weekend and the target will be to challenge the Red Bulls.”
Bearman will be on standby again this weekend in Melbourne as he participates in the Formula 2 round held alongside F1. The 18-year-old Ferrari junior driver secured pole position for the feature race in Jeddah but was withdrawn from the event before the sprint race due to his Ferrari call-up.
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MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2024, 7:43
Maybe he should do a endurance test before getting in the car otherwise we have to lift him out the car like Albon.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st March 2024, 10:14
Albon didn’t need help at any point afterwards.
RR
21st March 2024, 9:04
Then why not let Bearman have another go till Sainz is “100%” ?
DB-C90 (@dbradock)
21st March 2024, 9:33
I guess the question should be will Sainz at 80% do better than Bearman at 100%.
Still not convinced Sainz will do any more than P1 & P2 and then be withdrawn.
Hope young Bearman has spent all his time in the simulator.
Yaru (@yaru)
21st March 2024, 10:51
Why should he? It’s his seat, he can enter and drive if he wants to especially since he’s losing it at the end of the season. Ferrari clearly think he’s alright enough. Sainz also has a drivers standings to fight for.
SteveP
21st March 2024, 12:06
He has a life to live. Pushing to be back in the car if he isn’t ready would be a stupid move.
Health first.
Bearman is good, but I somehow doubt that even him somehow being a Verstappen in RBR beater would make Ferrari throw Sainz on the bench to fight an unfair dismissal case.
grat
21st March 2024, 14:26
Because Sainz can’t afford Bearman finishing better than he did at Jeddah.
Matthew Ellis
21st March 2024, 9:32
Albon has previously said that when he had a similar op he was less than 100% all season as a result of returning to the car too early.
Sainz really should learn from this given he likely needs to show off his talent to get another seat, and that is hard to do if you are less than 100% all season. Far better to delay his return by a couple of races and then truly shine.
Jere (@jerejj)
21st March 2024, 10:15
This season is only in the early-phase, unlike the 2022 season was at the time, so Albon had far less time for a 100% fitness return than Sainz has.
BasCB (@bascb)
21st March 2024, 11:56
Yeah, and Albon had complications during the procedure which certainly would have not helped either.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st March 2024, 16:45
If he spent 10 days in bed, he should spend at least 10 more days doing therapy/exercising, so I would wager hes probably 1 week too early, so hopefully he gets plenty of rest in between sessions. Probably won’t have to worry about internal bleeding though, 10 days is quite a bit especially if the surgeon did a good job. Hes also still in his twenties too, so he should heal reasonably fast.