Sainz, better than Hamilton and Checo, and yet, “taking advantage of my last opportunities”
Carlos Sainz He didn’t have too many celebrations, if not any, after the Austrian podium. He returned to Maranello direct, where he will spend time in the simulator at the Maranello factory.
Even though he is the driver who is leaving (or rather, they are fired for Hamilton), he is still the one who is most involved in the evolution and improvements of the car, that of the SF-24, Well, as he has already confessed, “I am no longer invited to anything related to the 2025 car. The team would not be smart if they did,” he apologized to them this weekend in Spielberg.
That is the feeling, even for some Italian colleagues, that Leclerc demands star status, He complains on the radio as if he were untouchable if they overtake him, (like in Barcelona) he tells Carlos off when he gets out of the car, and in the end he fails in the Qualy in Spielberg under pressure.
Not only that. In the race he had an incident, with the wing damaged on the first lap, and he did not know how to read that it was a long race to optimize the tires. He went out to burn each set of tires without much sense and found himself fighting for position with Albon. His 11th final leaves him at zero and Sainz is 15 points away, with one race less.
For Sainz, the race was chasing a Russell which was between 4 and 2.5 seconds away, an undertaking for which he has no weapons. Other things is the case of Hamilton, who has been watching Carlos’s back wing for two weekends in a rowwith a better car than his. When I get to Ferrari, can be very fun.
Silverstone upgrades
Instead of congratulating himself on his fifth podium of the year, the Madrid native went to work from the Spielberg airfield itself. “Right now we are the fourth best and we all have to try to go to Maranelo, work on the car, work on what we can bring to Silverstone, to try to reverse the situation a little…”he pointed out.
The situation is the reappearance of the bounce in the car (now in fast and medium corners), in the third year of the ground effect regulation, a problem that Red Bull, for example, has not had since 2022 and that Ferrari has never been able to completely eliminate. “To put it as mildly as possible, it is the most worrying of this year. And it is a phenomenon that it is clear that we have not fully understood and we must take it into account,” he analyzed.
With one less race he is like thisOnly 15 points behind Leclerc and ahead of a Red Bull like Checo Pérez (17 ahead). and your response never includes rivals that they may feel singled out. It is his character and it is his trademark: “I am going to try not to look at the championship, I am going to try to focus on achieving the greatest number of podiums and victories possible, Competing against the best drivers in the world with one race less in a 24-race championship is a bit unfair, so I’m not going to think too much. and enjoy this sport. And they may be my last chances in the coming years to get these podiums, so enjoy them and go for them,” he said, knowing that he will have a car with less power in 2025, despite the fact that there are others in large teams that do not take advantage of what they have.
Asked about LeclercCarlos prefers not to personalize and speak in general. “I know you guys watch this a lot (the internal fight with his partner), but I prefer to focus on fighting everyone, the best in the world and I will continue doing it,” he said with a small smile, but there was almost no joy in Austria, because he knows that it was not a podium for a car, but for circumstances.
