“I just need to be a bit quicker, the victory will come,” Carlos Sainz remains confident
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Carlos Sainz is confident that victory will not evade him very long.
Carlos Sainz is still in search of his first victory in Formula 1. He made his debut in 2015, alongside now reigning world champion Max Verstappen. While Verstappen has stood on the top step 24 times in his career, Sainz has not yet done it. In fact, he holds the record for the most Formula 1 points without a victory, and by quite a margin as well. He is fourth in most podiums without a win, and seventh in most races without a win.
People would scarcely have expected Charles Leclerc to be 33 points ahead of Carlos Sainz after 7 races, but that is in fact the case. This is down to driver performance but there’s another factor at play: driving style. Carlos Sainz is struggling with the ‘pointy’ front end of the car and is having trouble adapting to it. This is unlike last year, where he adapted very quickly and eventually outscored Charles Leclerc. That was another thing people would not have expected when Ferrari had announced Sainz’s move from McLaren.
According to the official Formula 1 website, his team principal, Mattia Binotto still has faith in the Spaniard, saying that soon Sainz will find his form again.
“Carlos is struggling, but he will get there very soon I’m sure.”
He added: “I don’t think that there are issues. Certainly, he needs to adapt by seeing that he has done a couple of mistakes, which are important. But nevertheless, I think that he is improving himself, he is going faster and faster.”
Binotto also said that as it is the first time Sainz is in a championship-contending car, he will need to get used to the experience, and he is confident that Sainz will adapt soon, given how adept the Spaniard is at managing pressure.
Also Read: Carlos Sainz wishes countryman, Rafael Nadal well before French Open semi-finals
Carlos Sainz does not feel at ease with the F1-75 yet
Carlos Sainz has shown improvement in his ability to manage the car over the course of the season. But as is understandable, two very early retirements in both Australia and Imola have severely hampered his rhythm for the course of the season. Nevertheless, Sainz thinks he can catch up with what Leclerc’s getting out of the car.
“I just need to be a bit quicker, I need one or two tenths, in terms of qualifying and race pace. If I find those one or two tenths I found in the second half of last year with last year’s car, the earlier I find them, the earlier the win will come. I’ve been working hard to find them.”
On how he feels about the natural temperament of the car, Sainz said:
“You can either adapt yourself or bring your car a bit more to your liking. Anyway, these two things, they take time, and they take knowledge and experience.”
“It takes mistakes and trial and error, and this is what I’m in the process [of doing] now and what I’m going to try and correct as soon as possible.”
“Plenty of races left, a long time to go, so everything to play for. As soon as I do these adaptations and find my feeling with the car, there are good things to come for sure.”
Carlos Sainz is coming off a race where he was perilously close to a victory: he made the right strategic call, only to be blocked by Nicholas Latifi’s Williams in his out lap, costing him over three seconds. In Baku, one would hope that luck holds for Ferrari and Carlos Sainz, and that sooner or later, he takes the chequered flag as a winner for the first time.
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)