Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz has pointed out the most “frustrating” aspect about his time with the Maranello team in the 2022 Formula 1 championship. The Spaniard admits to having struggled in the first part of the F1 campaign as compared to his Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc, who was able to quickly adapt to the F1-75 car and impressed in the start of the season, with two race wins in the first three rounds (Bahrain and Australia).
However, once Carlos Sainz got up to speed, he admitted to being unpleasantly surprised that even Ferrari fans asking for him to be relegated to clear ‘number 2’ status.
“I can understand that after the first few races, Charles was clearly one step ahead in both qualifying and race pace,” – the Spanish driver explained, in a recent interview for AS newspaper – “But in the middle of the season I improved a lot. I started getting into the fight more and it was kind of frustrating in a way because it seemed like some people didn’t want me there. I was criticised for not being there, and when I started being there, some wondered what I was doing up front and thought I should let Charles win everything. It was frustrating, especially from the press. Luckily I don’t pay too much attention to what is said,” Carlos Sainz added, according to the Spanish newspaper.
The 28-year-old Spanish driver confirmed that while Ferrari has indeed used team orders and clear driver hierarchies in the past, Mattia Binotto and the current top management wants to give both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz the same chance and have two strong drivers in the cars, with the goal of fighting for the Constructors’ championship.
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“Mattia (Binotto) and the team recognise that it is one of our strengths. But it is clear that there were some people who follow Ferrari who did not want there to be two drivers. Perhaps that is a question for others though because I am convinced that the best thing for the team is to have two drivers as close as possible to each other.” – the Spaniard added.
In the end, Carlos Sainz was asked about Red Bull and Max Verstappen winning the 2022 Formula 1 titles and what made them unbeatable this season: “It’s the car, it’s the driver, it’s the team, it’s the strategy, it’s the pitstops,” Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz concluded.
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