Sainz “very happy” with first day back in car after surgery

Carlos Sainz Jnr says he is “very happy” to have completed the first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix following his appendix surgery.

The Ferrari driver missed the last round in Saudi Arabia with appendicitis and revealed on Thursday he had spent “ten days in bed” leading into this weekend.

After his first day in the car since his surgery, where he was third fastest behind team mate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, Sainz said he was pleased to have gotten through two complete practice sessions without any problems.

“I’m obviously a bit tired after a full day of practice and not being 100% physically, but I felt like I had a good day,” Sainz told the official F1 channel.

“I managed to complete the whole programme. If you would have told me a week ago that I could do the whole practice without issues, I would have been very happy. I’m very happy for that. Obviously I need a good night’s sleep and a good recovery for tomorrow. But I felt good.”

While his team mate set the pace out front, Sainz admits he did not push as hard as he could out of precaution.

“I think particularly Charles looked very quick today,” he said. “On my side, obviously I took it step-by-step, getting a bit into a rhythm, not at the limit of the car and not at the limit of myself yet.

“But I think with more laps and getting a bit more confident with how everything feels inside, I think I’ll be faster tomorrow and hopefully battle for that pole position together with him against everyone else.”

Sainz agrees with his team mate that Saturday’s qualifying session may prove to be the most competitive of the new season so far based on the single lap performance evident from practice.

“I think it’s going to be tight, as we saw in FP1,” he said. “I think in FP2 we did a good step, but I think quali tomorrow is going to be more like FP1.”

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