Afrigather The Spaniard is the one driver aside from Max Verstappen to have received a race in 2024, and is simply seven factors behind his team-mate Charles Leclerc within the standings regardless of having missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on medical grounds.
His sturdy kind has made him a key participant within the F1 driver market foolish season for subsequent 12 months, having been linked with Pink Bull and Mercedes, whereas Audi is thought to need him on board.
The best way wherein he has been higher capable of ship outcomes for Ferrari this season has been noticeable, and prompted some to recommend that there was a change of method or revised driving model.
However reflecting himself on why issues are clicking higher to date, he says it’s all right down to the way in which that Ferrari’s new SF-24 is extra benign in its dealing with that final 12 months’s peaky challenger.
“There may be nothing specifically within the automobile that I like or dislike, other than a extra secure platform that offers you much less unhealthy moments throughout a lap, that offers you much less scares,” defined Sainz.
“Final 12 months, throughout a qualifying lap or throughout a race, we’d have loads of huge moments that we didn’t perceive the place they have been coming from. It was taking away confidence typically.
“This 12 months, since winter testing in Bahrain, you might already see within the three days of testing that we had little or no of these moments.”
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, third place, within the Press Convention
Photograph by: Motorsport Images
Sainz explains that having a automobile that isn’t so nervous on the sting means that there’s elevated driver confidence, which in flip means he can push tougher.
“The automobile simply appears a extra secure platform that lets you keep nearer to the restrict extra usually,” he stated.
“And that in then finish means extra confidence, and extra confidence means higher efficiency.
“When it comes to driving model and all that, it’s a really comparable automobile to final 12 months. We drive it in precisely the identical approach as final 12 months’s automobile.”
Regardless of having discovered over the winter that his contract wouldn’t be renewed for 2025, with Ferrari having opted to signal Lewis Hamilton, Sainz feels he’s delivering at the very best he ever has throughout his 4 years with the squad.
Nonetheless, he’s not positive if he’s having fun with the type of his profession so far.
“For positive, it has been my strongest begin to a season since I joined Ferrari,” he defined. “This, I feel, is not any secret. Am I at my greatest? I don’t know. It’s a tough factor to reply.
“Clearly, it seems to be prefer it, as a result of the podiums are coming, and the outcomes are exhibiting. However I’ve been at my greatest at McLaren, I’ve been at my greatest in Toro Rosso.
“What modifications is the automobile – some years you’ve gotten a greater automobile than others. Some years you’ve gotten a greater qualifying automobile or a race automobile. This 12 months, we have now an excellent compromise between quali and the race it appears.
“Yeah, I’m driving at an excellent degree, I feel, however I’ve been in F1 at an excellent degree earlier than, so I don’t know. Actually, I would wish to undergo all of my final 9 years to consider it.”
