‘I had to change to an unnatural way,’ Carlos Sainz details his struggles with the 2022 Ferrari


‘I had to change to an unnatural way,’ Carlos Sainz details his struggles with the 2022 Ferrari

Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz had a fantastic 2021. The Spaniard was ‘best of the rest’, finishing only 25.5 points behind Sergio Perez, who obviously had a much better car. He even, surprisingly, outscored his teammate Charles Leclerc, even if some of that is down to bad luck. You can take nothing away from Sainz, he was outstanding.

ADVERTISEMENT

2022 has been different. He has two new achievements – his first pole position and his first win, but it hasn’t been as good as the previous year, performance-wise. While some of that has come from Ferrari’s imperfections, there’s also another problem: The car does not suit Sainz nearly as well as it does his teammate Leclerc.

His situation was especially tough in the early races. Speaking to Motorsport.com, he called it especially frustrating as it was something he had never had to endure in his career: “It was clearly, first of all, frustrating after such a first strong year with the team, where I found very few issues with the car.”

Also Read: Helmut Marko discusses the ‘unhealthy’ Max Verstappen-Carlos Sainz relationship at Toro Rosso

ADVERTISEMENT

Carlos Sainz still not fully adapted to the Ferrari F1-75

Carlos Sainz
Carlos Sainz

In comparison with 2021, where Carlos Sainz had a much easier time with the characteristics of the car, 2022 turned out to be a different beast, even with a vastly superior package: “This year was finally a competitive car, finally a car able to battle for wins, and suddenly I find myself in a position that I’ve never found myself before, which is being a bit more than two tenths off.”

He had to completely change his style: “I had to change completely the way I was driving, in a very unnatural way. I had to change to an unnatural way and make it natural: which takes a long time.” also adding: “That accumulated frustration until I think it was more or less Canada that I found a bit my way. And since then, I’ve started performing a little better.”

But even now, Sainz is not completely at home with the car, and he further said: “It’s still not a car that I like, honestly, in how to drive it. I still have to think a lot while driving. And I’m not driving fully naturally yet. But at least I know that if I put everything together, I can be there.”

The Spaniard did not say what exactly he has been struggling to adapt to, but pointed to ‘a certain kind of corner speeds’. Sainz’s fans would be hoping that he finds himself at home with the car soon, and can be the best version of himself in 2023. The rest of the season will be part of the process of learning, and that goes for Ferrari as well.

ADVERTISEMENT

Also Read: Carlos Sainz receives the ‘Best Male Athlete’ award from the Community of Madrid

Also Read: ‘More than we expected in a budget cap situation’: Carlos Sainz questions Red Bull’s ‘incredibly fast’ car development