Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz confirmed that his solid performance in the 2021 Formula One championship has given him the confidence to be ready for whatever is coming his way in 2022.
There was a lot of interest and intrigue after Carlos Sainz joined Scuderia Ferrari ahead of the 2021 season, with the Spanish driver moving from McLaren where he had spent two strong years. In Maranello, Carlos went up against one of Formula 1’s most highly-rated prospects in Charles Leclerc.
With just three days of testing before his first Formula 1 race for Ferrari, Carlos Sainz was arguably the quickest of all drivers who changed teams in 2021. Despite a few crashes Carlos Sainz’s consistency was impressive throughout the season.
The Spanish driver would finish the championship with four podium finishes and scored a personal best result on the streets of Monte Carlo (P2), securing fifth place in the overall Drivers’ Championship, behind only the Mercedes and Red Bull cars of Max Verstappen, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez, but most importantly ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc.
The 2022 Formula One season will be a major unknown for everyone given the brand new regulations and cars, yet considering how quickly the Spanish driver adapted and thrived in that first season alongside Scuderia Ferrari, Carlos Sainz is confident he is ready to handle any challenge ahead.
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In a recent interview for Marca, the Ferrari driver said: “My expectations would have been to finish a little bit higher. But, honestly, for what I was facing with a new year at Ferrari, the fact that I adapted so quickly and, above all, finished the season much better than how I started it gives me the confidence that it has been a positive year. A year in which I have gone ‘in crescendo’. This is important for 2022 because I have gained a lot of confidence. I feel ready for whatever comes next season.” – he added.
Silly season started early back in 2020, with the first Grand Prix having not even taken place when the Italian side officially announced Carlos Sainz for 2021. That year McLaren were comfortably stronger than the Maranello, finishing P3 in the Constructors’ Championship, while Ferrari had to settle for P6.
This led to question marks over Carlos Sainz’s choice and whether it was the right one, but it was a decision validated in the next championship as Scuderia Ferrari got the better of McLaren to claim P3 in the standings.
Regardless, Carlos Sainz was surprised to hear fans at the time question why he would leave McLaren for Ferrari.
“We came from a long way back, but this is Ferrari. It was a bad year, but this is a team with an extremely high capacity to turn things around. I was surprised when people asked me: ‘why are you going to Ferrari when you’re great at McLaren’. And I thought: ‘how can I not go there’.”
And Carlos Sainz feels that by being able to match Charles Leclerc in his first Ferrari year, rather than the number two driver some felt he may be, he has earned the respect of the Tifosi, and together with the Monegasque driver gave reason for high hopes in the future:
“I feel that people are excited. They have seen that Ferrari has the ability to turn a bad year around. They have seen that I came to Ferrari to fight, not to do what some people thought. I see the fans looking forward to next season. That opportunity that the change of regulations can give us. The objective is to aspire to world championships because this is Ferrari.” – he continued.
Regarding his own personal goals, Carlos Sainz explained that he has not yet reached his maximum potential:
“My season went from less to more. Or good, but not perfect. The best is yet to come,” he concluded.
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