While Sainz is ecstatic to have a car to race, he recognises that staying there and competing on the development front will be difficult.
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Despite tying his career-best finish of second in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz described the weekend as his “most difficult” for the Scuderia. The Spaniard had been chasing a comfortable set-up all weekend and broke through ahead of qualifying, taking provisional pole after the first runs in Q3, before finishing third behind teammate Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen. He didn’t have quite the same pace throughout the race, but he was in the best position to inherit second when Verstappen retired.
“It may sound a bit strange to say it now, but as a Ferrari driver it was my most difficult weekend. I did not have the pace, neither in the race or in Friday practice,” he said. “For some reason that I need to understand, in quali I was suddenly there or thereabouts fighting for pole position but today in the race it exposed my weaknesses with this car, and it shows that I am still not quite there, which is something that last year never happened. So, some work to do for me.”
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“I will celebrate with the whole team but from Monday I will be looking into data and into what I can do better to drive this car and be fighting for the win next time,” the Spaniard added.
Ferrari had their worst season in decades in 2020, and while they improved in 2021, they had gone 45 races without a win until Bahrain this year. However, they seem to have turned things around for 2022, seizing the opportunity presented by the new generation of cars, and have been on a tear since testing began. While Sainz is ecstatic to have a car to race, he recognises that staying there and competing on the development front will be difficult.
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“It’s just great news for Ferrari and for us because it’s where Ferrari should be and it’s where Charles and I want to be in our lives, fighting for World Championships,” added Sainz. “It’s still going to be a long year, we still need to make sure that we develop well this car, because at the moment it is a quick car, but it also needs to be quick the whole year to keep us in the fight. And it’s a great problem to have, actually.
“Before the race, Charles and I were working together and the first thing that we said to each other is how good it feels, just to be starting first and third and to finally be fighting for something bigger, and together. And we kind of had that moment of just realising that we are in the fight this year, and it was… between us a good moment to reflect and to realise that we are a lot luckier in that sense than last year, and we have a good fight on our hands,” he said.
