Carlos Sainz Jnr, Ferrari, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2024

Sainz “proud” of how he coped with “strange year” ahead of Ferrari exit

Formula 1

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Carlos Sainz Jnr said he did not allow the knowledge he will leave Ferrari at the end of the year to demotivate him, after scoring his second win of the season.

He learned before the championship began that Lewis Hamilton would take his place at Ferrari next year. Sainz took five months to decide his destination for next year, eventually committing to Williams as it became clear no seats were available at any of the top teams.

“It’s been a strange year in that sense and also quite a challenging one,” Sainz observed. He missed the second race of the season due to appendicitis then won on his return in Australia.

But soon after Ferrari’s second win of the year in Monaco, scored by his team mate Charles Leclerc, the team fell off the pace of the front runners.

“The year started really well, then we went through a tough period of development, and then suddenly we managed to make the car competitive again,” he said. “I saw that winning chances were still again [available], but obviously Charles took those wins in Monza and Austin.”

Leclerc won as the championship resumed after three weekends without a race. Sainz said he returned from the break eager to win at least one of his final six grands prix as a Ferrari driver.

“It could have been quite easy for me to lose a bit of motivation and to lose a bit of the drive to make it happen, but those three weeks of break served me well,” he said. “I managed to regain a bit of the determination and the drive that I needed for these last five, six races of the season.

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“I managed to put myself in a position with improving my driving and my confidence with the car, to put myself in a position to, first, win in Austin that I didn’t make it happen – Charles did a great job there – and put myself in a position to win here.

“This one I was just going to make sure it doesn’t slip from my hands. It was not an easy one, not an easy year, but I’m proud of the way that I’ve managed to keep myself in it and obviously trying to help the team now as much as I can to win the constructors’ [championship] because it would be the perfect goodbye for me.”

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “Sainz “proud” of how he coped with “strange year” ahead of Ferrari exit”

  1. For years now, Sainz is coming across as a mature, sincere and thoughtful person, who happens to be a supremely competent driver. I would be very keen on signing him.

    It is a pity that circumstances will demote him further down the grid. A driver can make a huge difference in the midfield though, so he will be an asset. Hopefully that will be enough to return to the front soon.

    1. why he opted for Williams still remains a bit of a mistery to me

      1. Guessing he might’ve talked with red bull and they told him they wouldn’t replace perez.

      2. It’s not the worst decision at all. It’s not beyond the realm of reason that Vowles will succeed in his quest to bring Williams back to a top competitor. He’s obviously been able to get a lot of important, savvy people to believe in him.

  2. Somehow I think he’ll be back. Things may not work out great for Lewis at Ferrari, you can never be too sure. We’ll see.

    1. All depends on Bearman and how he does in the Haas cause he obviously is next in line in the Ferrari driver program. If he can actually continue what we’ve seen so far in Saudi and Baku, he gets that seat when Lewis leaves.

  3. Yes, well done by him. From the get go he was the better driver this year. Maybe not reflected in the standings but Charles was very underwhelming this year (to a point that I think there is even a small chance Lewis might be better than Charles next year), something that can’t be said about Carlos. Pity Ferrari management chose money over sportiveness.

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