In an exclusive interview for Motorsport Italy, Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz expressed a sense of great solidity. This season he had a winning car available for the first time (in F1), but between Carlos and the F1-75 it was not love at first sight.
A long process of adapting to the Ferrari 2022 F1 car therefore began for the Spaniard, which he explained transparently, a period not without moments of frustration that eventually led to the victory at Silverstone. The win in the British Grand Prix did not change his life much, but his first success in Formula 1 brought him a very special gift.
Carlos explained why he is convinced that he is a talented driver, why he strongly believes in this Ferrari team and why he is aware that, like all drivers, he is constantly under scrutiny. At the age of 28, he has the impression of being in front of a more mature person, forged by a career with ups and downs, who says the words but goes straight to the point, without being afraid to admit even his weaknesses.
Season number 2 in the red suit. How did you experience it compared to the debut season?
“I approached 2022 with some peace of mind, knowing the people I would work with and the environment in general. But at the same time it was like starting from scratch, as we brought a brand new single-seater to the track, the result of a new regulation. And this aspect was a bit of a nuisance, because obviously I was already coming from a team change and I don’t think anyone is particularly happy when there is a fresh start.”
Last season everyone was impressed by how fast you adapted to the car: you were the only driver, among those who changed teams in 2021, to find the feeling with your new car. This year, however, you had more difficulties in the first part of the season …
“It was frustrating. I felt like I was at the beginning of 2021, only a year ago I knew where the car’s limits were and I knew where to find the last two tenths, mostly in a certain type of corner. Having taken this step, the second half of the 2021 season has been very good. This year we finally had a competitive car available, a single-seater capable of aiming for the top, and suddenly I found myself in a completely new position for me, that is, more than two tenths from my teammate and without understanding why”.
“It was frustrating, because it was the first time I had a competitive car capable of fighting for the win. I kept the causes of my problems quite secret, I believe that people who know this sport and those who do analysis deepened by now they know me, and for my part I understood the origin of the problems I had ”.
How did you get out of this situation?
“I had to completely change my driving style, switching to a way of driving that was very unnatural for me and… making it natural, a step that takes a long time. I also tried setup solutions that initially seemed to go in the wrong direction only to later discover that they weren’t wrong, and all during the race weekends, since there are no more tests. In a few weekends I went astray with the set-up, compromising the car balance, and all this accumulated frustration. Then came the Canadian Grand Prix, and from that moment I found my way”.
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Did the team have to make some technical changes on your car or was it a process completed by working only on the driving style?
“The team obviously listened to me, and was always aware of my difficulties. But we are in a budget-cap era, and in addition these cars do not offer much room for maneuver in terms of setup. Only late in the season was it possible to have a couple of technical innovations that really helped me find more performances. If I think back to the weekend in Barcelona, which was my lowest point in terms of speed both in qualifying and in the race, my driving has completely changed, I have constantly looked for that feeling of confidence that a car must give you in order to allow you to extract the maximum”.
There was a particular aspect that created difficulties for you, such as fast corners, slow corners, braking …
“No, a little everywhere, let’s say that a certain driving style doesn’t go well with this car. Sometimes it happens in the career of a driver to get into a car, as I did in 2021, and without doing anything in particular, just driving as you like to do, you immediately go well. Other times you get on another car, you think you have set a good lap time, and then you see that there are those who have done better. At that point you wonder why, since the feeling was to have gone fast. But the most frustrating aspect is having found myself in this situation with a competitive car at my disposal.”
From the outside there was the impression that you suffered more in qualifying than in the race pace. Is it really so?
“It’s interesting, because my point of view is different. For example, at the beginning of the year my feeling with the car was far from good, but in Bahrain and Jeddah I fought for pole, I was very close, and also in Miami, Monaco and Canada I think I went well. But when I was about to start the Grand Prix on Sunday, I knew I couldn’t drive every lap as I had done in qualifying. In the race I felt that the difference was greater, because you don’t have the grip that the soft tire gives you for a lap. If I look at the qualifying in Monza, France, Hungary and Austria I was half a tenth ahead or behind Charles, so in the end I think the race is still the aspect to work on”.
In Melbourne qualifying, a very good lap of yours vanished a few meters from the finish line due to a red flag. If you had started in the first position you probably wouldn’t have made the mistake on the first lap. Even in Imola you were hit immediately after the start, effectively being taken out of the race. Do you think bad luck also played a role in your first part of the season?
“To get a good result there are many things that have to go in the right direction, the example you did in Melbourne is very indicative. Without that red flag I would have started from the top positions, and I probably would not have made the mistake I then made. And that wouldn’t have put me under pressure at Imola. But I believe that a driver over the course of an entire championship often faces moments of pressure, and he must be ready to react. “
“At the beginning of this season I didn’t feel comfortable with the car, I couldn’t drive the way I like, and I made a couple of mistakes that cost me a lot in the economy of the championship, but the one at Imola was Daniel’s mistake, not mine. Then I had a sequence of good races, Canada and Silverstone, but in Austria, for example, I lost a second position (due to a power unit problem) in a race I ran on the same pace as Charles, leaving eighteen points on the road”.
The first lap of Silverstone was special. The way you stood up to Max seemed like a sign, as if you were back in control of the car.
“Already in Canada I felt good, I pushed a lot behind Max, I had the feeling that I had taken a step forward. Then at Silverstone in the first start I lost ground, and when a second chance arrived I said to myself ‘you can’t waste it’! Yes, I felt good, and I had the same feeling in France, I think I did a good lap in Q2, these are laps that make you understand that you are on the right path, which increase your confidence. And that’s where I really started thinking I could be fast with this car too. “
“When you have problems, doubts always arise, and in my case it was not finding the right feeling with the F1-75, what I had instead found with the 2021 car. When you see that things start to go well you find confidence, the F1-75 is not yet a single-seater that I like, I still have to think a lot while driving because I can’t have the natural approach I would like. But at least I know that if I put it all together I can aim high “.
One of the comments that are made more and more frequently at the end of a qualifying or a bad race is “I couldn’t get the tires in the right temperature window”. It’s really like this?
“Sometimes we say ‘tires’ because we mean ‘tires’ … (Carlos smiles) It can be anything, there are so many variables in a Formula 1 car! Tires are one of these, and when you don’t really understand what happened, sometimes the first thing that comes to mind is ‘tires’. The truth is that this sport is very complex, there are so many things to put together ”.
How important was the Silverstone win? What changed after that Sunday?
“What I’m going to say is probably a bit of a cliché, but I’ve always believed that I have the qualities necessary to win a race. I believe that when I’m on a good day I can be better than anyone else, and my goal is to be on my good day as much as possible ”.
“I don’t think winning at Silverstone gave me such a special feeling, but I can say it solved a… problem for me. Before that day I often heard the usual question: ‘when will the first victory arrive?’. From the media, from fans, from my family or friends, it was a bit of a catchphrase. Now I don’t have to answer this question anymore, and it’s the only real change since Silverstone! “.
“In terms of pure conviction, I honestly have had it since my debut in 2015. When I confronted Max in Toro Rosso I thought we would have a future in the sport, and I was willing to bet that we would both win races.”
In the paddock everyone claims that you are a great professional, an excellent worker. However, at the same time, not everyone associates your name with pure talent. Is it something that affects you or that bothers you?
“It’s a good question but I can’t answer it. There is one thing that I am very sure of, and that is that every teammate who has worked with me, every team principal, every engineer who has looked at my data, has rated me as a great talent, and if they say so is probably because they have seen what I am capable of ”.
“They know I’m very fast in the wet and this is normally something that befits a talented driver. Maybe there are those who would like me to be more spectacular, I don’t know, honestly I just need the judgment of the people who read my telemetry and who work with me. If that’s not the case in the rest of the paddock, well, maybe it’s a bit of my fault. I don’t like to say ‘this has been the drive of my life’, or anything like that, it’s not my way of doing, and maybe this conveys another perception “.
From the outside, the Ferrari season was seen with ups and downs. Initial performance was praised, then there was criticism of strategies and reliability issues. Were there these ups and downs within the team or was everything felt more calmly?
“There was frustration in some unhappy moments, and it’s easy to imagine. But if there is one thing I saw, it was a great compactness. There has never been a doubt, no one has ever pointed the finger at anyone, and I think this aspect has been a weakness in Ferrari’s past. If we think of the last period in which the Scuderia did not win, there was often a finger pointed, the culprit was sought, but today this is not the case, this year there has been a really great team spirit “.
“We’re still not good enough in some areas, we need to improve and make sure we don’t make the same mistake twice. If I think back to the mistakes we made, every mistake was different, a different situation, a different set of circumstances. We have never made the same mistake again. We are facing a new challenge and we are trying to grow, to be more robust, we are trying to be better ”.
“The team has not fought for the championship for three years, now we are back in the top positions and we are dealing with the two most complete teams in the history of Formula 1, namely Mercedes and Red Bull. This comparison has revealed some weaknesses, but we will try to improve in view of next year ”.
Until recently Daniel Ricciardo was considered one of the top drivers of Formula 1. In a short time he found himself on the back foot and next season he will not be among the twenty drivers at the start of the world championship. Do I think this is a risk you are all exposed to?
“I think every driver knows, we are judged by what we have done and achieved in the last race. At the most, the last season is evaluated, which is why Daniel is in such a difficult situation today. In no sport is there a long memory, and I don’t think we can change this approach “.
“It’s the way the sport values us: if you win you are a hero, you have a great weekend and you become the best driver in the world, no one is better than you. But if you go through a difficult period the opposite happens, it must be taken into account. I know how good Daniel is, he found himself in a team with which he has never felt comfortable and this was enough to make his career take a different path. Last year he won a race, but no one remembers him now. This is why I believe that we must always be focused on the next race, because every time we go out on the track we are fighting for a result but also for our reputation”.
How are you living your personal experience as a Ferrari driver?
“I am experiencing the most incredible feelings in Italy. It is frankly difficult to describe what it feels like, you would have to enter the body of a Ferrari driver to understand it, to feel what we feel. I am aware that I will never forget this experience, I know that I can always say that I was a Ferrari driver. And this, in itself, is something incredible ”.
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