The result and most important the performance at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal proved he has found the confidence he was missing in the first parte of the 2022 Formula 1 championship and has now become a contender for race victories, according to Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto.
The Spanish driver had a series of difficult races earlier in the season and lost a lot of ground in the standings due to some mistakes, incidents and reliability issues. Carlos Sainz said several times that he was not completely comfortable behind the wheel of the F1-75 this year, due to the fact that the 2023 F1 challenger has a more nervous handling balance at the rear than its predecessor.
But Carlos was able to deliver his best performance of the championship so far last weekend in the Canadian Grand Prix, fighting with Max Verstappen for the race win until the last lap at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
“Carlos is gaining confidence with the car, he is driving faster and faster,” Mattia Binotto said after the Canadian Grand Prix – “It’s good to see that he certainly was as fast if not slightly faster than Max.” – he added.
The result in Montreal represented the fifth second place finish for the Spaniard, who is still looking for his first race victory. Mattia Binotto explained he drove “a very good race” and is on course to take his breakthrough triumph.
“I think race by race he is gaining confidence, improving his driving and being faster and faster. He is happy, he is more relaxed. I’m pretty sure that he will prove in the next races now that he is a contender as well for the win on a single race. So I’m happy the way he drove and it’s important for us as the Scuderia that we can count on him as well, to know that he can be very fast and be a strong racer on a Sunday.”
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection from Puma! Enter the online Puma Store and shop securely! And get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
Carlos Sainz started the Canadian Grand Prix from third place last weekend, as the Spanish driver made a small mistake in the final fast lap in qualifying, missing out on a certain P2 position and therefore having to start behind the Alpine of Fernando Alonso who beat him to a front row place alongside Verstappen.
Mattia Binotto admitted that this shows the Maranello team has to be at the top of their game in order to defeat Red Bull and Max Verstappen: “To win with such a close fight with Red Bull and Max you need to be perfect in the entire weekend. If anything, maybe the quali was not a perfect quali from Carlos. That cost him a bit, maybe.”
Leave a Reply