Carlos Sainz has revealed the extraordinary level of data Ferrari examined before choosing him over Daniel Ricciardo for its 2021 Formula 1 line-up. The Spaniard recalled being shown a detailed assessment covering six years of his career, with Ferrari analysing everything from qualifying performance to wet-weather driving before deciding he should replace Sebastian Vettel alongside Charles Leclerc.
The process left Sainz particularly impressed because of how deeply the Maranello engineers had studied his strengths and weaknesses. Rather than judging potential recruits only on headline results, Ferrari had compiled comparisons against his previous team-mates and the wider Formula 1 field across a range of different conditions.
Carlos Sainz reveals Ferrari’s detailed driver analysis
Speaking in an interview with Formula 1 journalist Julianne Cersoli for UOL, Sainz looked back at the selection process that ultimately took him from McLaren to Ferrari. He explained that Mattia Binotto and Laurent Mekies presented him with a document analysing his performances over the previous six seasons.
The information went far beyond basic race and qualifying results. According to Sainz, Ferrari had assessed his driving in the wet, in dry conditions and during transitions between the two. The team had also studied qualifying sessions in detail, including his Q1 performances and how they compared with the rest of the grid.
Sainz acknowledged that he had been impressed by just how much Ferrari already knew about him. The depth of the evaluation showed him how comprehensively a leading Formula 1 team could assess a driver before committing to a major signing.
Why Ferrari chose Carlos Sainz over Daniel Ricciardo
The vacancy emerged when it became clear that Vettel would not remain with Ferrari beyond the 2020 season. With a place available alongside Leclerc, the decision immediately became one of the most significant moves in that year’s driver market.
Sainz was racing for McLaren at the time, while Daniel Ricciardo was another candidate under consideration. The Spaniard explained that Ferrari’s extensive analysis played an integral part in the decision to choose him, with his signing confirmed just two days after Vettel’s departure had been announced.
What particularly stood out to Sainz was that Ferrari did not simply present the areas in which he performed strongly. Binotto and Mekies also identified statistics where the Spaniard could improve, and he recalled that those weaknesses matched the aspects of his driving that he already knew required further work.
For Sainz, that combination demonstrated how much information teams with sufficient resources can gather when evaluating the driver market. He admitted that before going through Ferrari’s recruitment process, he had not realised that teams could examine prospective signings in such granular detail.
Sainz went on to spend four seasons alongside Charles Leclerc
The decision began a four-year Ferrari spell for Sainz from 2021 to 2024. He joined Leclerc as part of a new pairing and immediately became involved in the team’s efforts to recover from its difficult 2020 campaign, with Sainz and Leclerc assessing Ferrari’s early progress together during their first season as team-mates.
The Spaniard’s performances during that campaign quickly provided Ferrari with useful evidence that its recruitment decision had produced a competitive partnership. His 2021 Ferrari statistics and consistency underlined the solid start he made after adapting to a new team and car.
Across his four seasons in red, Sainz went on to win four Grands Prix. His Ferrari chapter eventually ended after the 2024 campaign, before the Spaniard moved to Williams, bringing to a close a period that had started with one of the most detailed recruitment assessments he had encountered during his Formula 1 career. As his time at Maranello approached its conclusion, Sainz also reflected on his Formula 1 influences and relationships within the paddock.
Looking back, what surprised Sainz most was not simply that Ferrari had compared him with Ricciardo and other potential candidates, but the precision with which the Scuderia had built a picture of his performance. The eventual choice was therefore based on a far broader evaluation than results alone, extending into specific situations and areas of driving that Ferrari believed could determine whether he was the right fit for its 2021 line-up.
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