At 27, Carlos Sainz will enjoy his first race dressed in the colors of a Ferrari that long ago bet everything on 2022, with 50% of fans in the stands at Monza because of COVID-19.
Despite having set foot in Italy with his new team on the occasion of the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, fans were not allowed to go to the circuit, so Carlos Sainz feels that something is missing. “I am a Ferrari driver, but I have not had the experience of being a Ferrari driver”, hit # 55 from Monza.
“I must be one of the only drivers in Ferrari history who has taken more than a year to feel like a Ferrari driver. I have not been able to enjoy the tifosi; I do it sometimes in Maranello when they approach me when going to the factory. I can’t wait to get to Monza. I don’t know how close they’ll be to us, but I still think it’s going to be amazing, ”he mused aloud.
Loading tweet …
1436011769521180681
Decked out with a special helmet for this historic appointment in your sports careerInspired by the 2000s, Sainz analyzed his time at the Scuderia so far, comparing it with his previous experiences since he debuted in Formula 1 back in 2015.
“In terms of points, it was obviously my best start to the season. Even so, as I said before the holidays, I think I’ve done better first halves of the season in terms of pure performance as a driver. In my third season at Toro Rosso it was a matter of properly maximizing the car we had and getting the best possible results that car could achieve every weekend, ”he said.
«Obviously now I have more points because the car is more competitive than that, but I think I still have a margin. I remain critical and analytical, because you know that as a pilot you want to maximize what you can do. Let’s see how this second half of the championship unfolds and how we can continue to progress as a team, ”continued Sainz.
Action Reaction
11th in Portugal or 10th in Spa after a poor qualifying session prior to the ‘no race’ means that Sainz is not entirely happy with his performance to date. However, he himself admits that finding the limit of the car quickly has helped him relax to some extent, waiting for put all the pieces together in one weekend as he did at McLaren.
The biggest problem that Spanish currently suffers resides in the braking, a setback that has weighed down for example pilots like Daniel Ricciardo on his arrival at the formation led by Zak Brown.
It’s there, probably the rain exposed it. I did several races without really thinking about braking, feeling very comfortable. It is one of the areas where it seems to me that we should keep improving as a team to reduce the distance in front of the teams above », revealed Sainz.
Fully aware that “we are coming off my worst race in pace since I’ve been at Ferrari,” Sainz hopes to make up for himself. «Monza is strange, because we should do well in the first two chicanes. Obviously on the straights there are not so much, but yes, I hope that if we can get the low downforce package to work well and give us all the downforce we want we will have a good weekend, “he said.
You always try to win. Reaching the podium at Monza, as a Ferrari driver, would be great … I don’t know. To be honest, we all think more about next year. We know that the current car is what it is and there is no development. It will be a difficult weekend for us, especially since the Monza circuit is not the one that best suits our car, but we will try ”, Sainz concluded.