Carlos Sainz is optimistic. The Spaniard, always very precise in his analyses, talks about the weekend in Azerbaijan and does not want to look too far ahead. According to Carlos Sainz, all the conditions are in place for a good weekend in Baku. “I think it’s a track where our car should adapt well, we’ve been competitive here in the past. Charles has taken the last three pole positions, we know he’s an expert on this circuit, but our car is also suited to these 90-degree low-speed corners.”
“We had good results last year as well, in Las Vegas and Singapore, which are tracks very similar to Baku. So, yes, we could have a good chance of winning another race or at least getting on the podium. Then, if when we return to Austin the car is like it was in Zandvoort, we will have to adjust our objectives. But I think the right approach is to take it race by race, because when several teams are within a tenth or two, it’s really impossible to predict where you’ll be.”
Carlos Sainz also reflected on the Italian Grand Prix at Monza and a race strategy that, in hindsight, didn’t help him. “I lost quite a bit of time extending the first stint, but it was done because I was already on a one-stop strategy. He (Leclerc) was probably on a two-stop, pushed more, and managed to clean the graining off the tires before me, and at that point, it became clear that the race could be completed with just one stop. But in the end, it was still important to win the race with Charles, and I was able to help by holding the McLarens back a bit.”
“Winning a race in Italy for the team is incredible; there’s happiness but also motivation because it leaves something inside you for the rest of the year. Obviously, there are also valuable points for the Constructors’ Championship. Today, we don’t know how many more chances we’ll have, because as I said, it will be crucial to see how the car performs on permanent circuits. But I believe that in Baku, Singapore, Las Vegas, and maybe even Mexico, we should have a competitive car.”
The championship hopes Ferrari still holds, according to Carlos Sainz, are tied to the Maranello team’s growth… “If we analyze the season, we had a good first third of the championship, then after Monaco, we entered a more problematic phase. But even in this phase, the team has shown how much it has grown in terms of work, we’ve managed to optimize everything we had available, and this has kept us in the fight.” – the future Williams driver pointed out.
“We drivers have also been very consistent, we’ve helped each other, and overall, the whole team has been very united. This has allowed us to manage races well, even during tough weekends. Now we’re in the final third of the season, and we’ll see if we can confirm the performance from Monza.” – he continued.
One of the topics being discussed in the paddock on the eve of the weekend is the exploits of George Russell at Spa and Charles Leclerc at Monza, both winning with just one stop in a race that was expected to require two pit stops. What’s putting into question strategies that seemed settled? “I think the main difficulty lies in the different types of asphalt that vary from track to track. For example, the way the tires react in Bahrain has nothing to do with how they react on a new surface like Spa or Monza. And in the end, we must remember that before the race, we can’t do much more than about ten laps in FP2, when a stint in the race is usually about thirty. So, we’re all going in blind, and I’m not saying Monza was a matter of luck, but we couldn’t know how the tires would react. There was a risk that the performance would drop off around lap 20, 25, or 30.”
“We don’t do tests; the few trials we have are in Bahrain, which has very atypical conditions, so there’s always a bit of a gamble. We took a risk, we took a chance (referring to the Monza race), we had nothing to lose by doing one stop, we knew we would still finish third and fourth, but by staying on the track, there was a chance to win at Monza. We made that attempt, and we won. And maybe McLaren could have done the same with one of their two cars to cover us, but they didn’t…” – Carlos Sainz concluded ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in Baku.
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