Tag: Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz says his future departure from Ferrari and recent appendicitis both add to the special feeling he got from his victory in the Australian Grand Prix.

Just 16 days after undergoing surgery to have his appendix removed in Saudi Arabia, Sainz started on the front row in Melbourne and took a remarkable win as he passed Max Verstappen on lap 2 before the championship leader retired. Sainz was comfortable in the lead after that point, and says the win shows how quickly situations can changed as he won the third race after it was announced he’ll be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025.

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“I think it’s not only the last two weeks, you know, it’s the whole start of the year in general, how the year started with the news of the non-renewal,” Sainz said. “Then you get yourself fit, you get yourself ready for the start of the season, pushing flat out. And then you get to Bahrain, you do a good podium, you say, ‘OK, now the season is starting well and I can keep the momentum going.’

“And suddenly, boom, missing a race in Jeddah and the operation. Long, long days in bed, not knowing if I was going to be back in time. Obviously a lot of unknowns. Am I going to be back fit? Am I going to be back feeling still good with the car? And then suddenly you come back and win.

“So yes, what I said on the radio, you know, life is a roller coaster sometimes, but it can be really nice and good to you sometimes. And just letting it sink in and enjoying the moment.”

Sainz took the lead after Verstappen ran wide at Turn 3 as a brake issue worsened, but the Spaniard believes he also had the car to put pressure on Red Bull regardless of Verstappen’s issues.

“I got a decent start from the dirty side of the grid, but obviously couldn’t put Max under pressure into Turn 1, but from there on it was a kind of a very strategic first lap and a half where you are wanting to protect the tire from opening up the graining,” he said. “But at the same time, I knew this weekend and this race, I could have the pace to challenge Max. And I thought to myself, with how powerful the DRS is around here, if I get myself within the DRS range after lap 1, we can put him a bit under pressure.

“I think he did a mistake into Turn 3 that allowed me to stay within the DRS and I could feel myself being pretty quick. I don’t know when his brakes started to go, but in dirty air, obviously, it’s not the same than in clean air with a big gap.

“I saw him… obviously pushing on lap 1 and I was like, ‘OK, I’m going to push with him too and challenge in the car.’ But obviously it could have been the brakes, as he said. So, I don’t know, honestly, but it felt good to pass him, with brake issues or not, because it is tough to pass Max and the Red Bull.

“It’s what we’ve said from the beginning — if you are there and you can put Red Bull under pressure, you can sometimes get it done. But you need to be there — and we need to be there more often if we want to win.”

Carlos Sainz led a Ferrari one-two after polesitter Max Verstappen retired with brake failure and George Russell forced the race to end under caution after a rollover crash on the penultimate lap of a dramatic Australian Grand Prix.

Sainz, who had his appendix removed just two weeks ago and hasn’t trained since, started from the front row and swept into the lead around Verstappen’s outside at the rapid Turn 9-10 chicane on the second lap. But the Dutchman was defenseless, suffering with a stuck right rear brake. Smoke began to pour from the car on the following tour, and before long fire was erupting from beneath the wheel.

A small explosion of braking material confirmed in advance as he entered pit lane that Verstappen would not be able to rejoin the race, ending 43-race finishing streak on the spot.

Sainz inherited the lead and began punching in a series of fastest laps, gapping the pursuing field led by Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri.

With the Spaniard in control at the front, Leclerc was hauled into pit lane early, on lap 9, to undercut Norris and take second place. Piastri followed him in, ensuring both drivers would move into podium positions when the first stop window closed.

Norris dropped to net fourth when he entered the lane five laps later. Except for Sainz — who then stopped on lap 16 without losing the lead — the Briton became the fastest man on track.

McLaren wasted no time ordering Piastri, on older tires, to cede third to his teammate, and before long Norris was lining up Leclerc to relieve him of second. The Monegasque was struggling with his left front tire, prompting the team to bring him in for another early stop to protect against the undercut.

Norris and Piastri followed him in on lap 40 and 39 respectively to resume their chase, but on lighter fuel Leclerc was happier on the hard compound and equal to the defensive challenge.

Now it was Leclerc’s turn to begin moving forward, and in the final four laps of the race he sliced the deficit to his teammate from more than five seconds down to just over three. But the pursuit wasn’t allowed to reach its climax after Russell lost control of his car through the high-speed Turn 6 on the penultimate lap.

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The Mercedes driver washed out through the gravel and smacked the barriers, tearing off its left front corner. The loose tire jammed under the car as it slid back onto the racetrack, rolling the chassis onto its side before stopping in a dramatic heap in the middle of the road.

Russell emerged unscathed, and a virtual safety car was triggered to end the race at controlled speed. Sainz led Leclerc home in formation finish for Ferrari’s first one-two finish since the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.

“It was a really good race,” he said. “It felt really good out there. I was lucky I was more or less on my own and I could manage my pace, manage my tires and everything.

“I’m very happy, very proud of the team, very happy to be one-two with Charles here — it shows hard work pays off.”

Leclerc, who collected the bonus point for fastest lap, praised his teammate’s performance two weeks after his appendectomy in ensuring maximum points for the team.

“It feels good, mostly for the team of course,” he said of his second place. It’s amazing that we can do this.

“Carlos has had an incredible weekend to come back after this surgery. He’s done an amazing race.”

Norris was pleased to complete the podium, describing it as validation of McLaren improving to be a closer match for Ferrari after having challenged Leclerc through the race.

“It was a very good day for us,” he said. “I’m very happy for us as a team. P3 and P4 [for Piastri] is a lot of points in the championship.

“I think our pace was strong enough today, but Ferrari and Carlos did a very good job, so hats off to them.”

Piastri was a comfortable fourth in his native city, an equal best result for an Australian at their home grand prix.

Sergio Perez was an underwhelming fifth in the sole remaining Red Bull Racing car. Perez had started a penalized sixth and dropped to seventh on the first lap and struggled to cut through the field after that.

Fernando Alonso finished sixth ahead of Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll, who was promoted a place after Russell’s crash.

Yuki Tsunoda was a strong eighth, scoring four points for RB to take the Red Bull-owned team to sixth in the championship.

Haas teammates Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen completed the top 10, collecting three points between them.

Alex Albon tried unsuccessfully to defend against Magnussen in the second stint but finished 11th ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, Pierre Gasly, Valtteri Bottas, Zhou Guanyu and Esteban Ocon.

Lewis Hamilton was the race’s only other retirement when his engine failed on lap 16.

Carlos Sainz still feels some disappointment in missing out on pole position at the Australian Grand Prix despite qualifying in second place just 15 days after having his appendix removed.

Ferrari enjoyed a strong Friday in Melbourne and Sainz was then fastest in the first two sections of qualifying, but was beaten by Max Verstappen by over a quarter of a second in Q3. Sainz missed the last race in Saudi Arabia after being diagnosed with appendicitis, undergoing surgery on March 8, and says his physical state and lost track time leave him with a bittersweet feeling after qualifying on the front row.

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“It’s a bit of, I think you can see it both ways,” Sainz said. “If you would have told me two weeks ago when I had my appendix removed that I would be in Australia ready to go again and fighting for pole position, I would have 100 percent taken it. But after being P1 in Q1, P1 in Q2 and knowing that I left some time on the table in Q3, it’s obviously a bit disappointing.

“But it’s normal also — with no qualifying in Jeddah I am probably a bit out of shape and probably also learning this new car after missing a qualifying session in Jeddah and a full race. So there are probably things I could have learned through qualifying in Jeddah that I could have applied to today that I couldn’t apply in Q3, and the car surprised me in a couple of corners once we started to crank in the flap, and it wasn’t the cleanest of laps.

“But like I said, if you had told me even five days ago that I would travel here still recovering and qualify P2 while fighting for pole, I would have taken it.”

Sainz says he has been continuing to recover even during the race weekend, also dealing with a psychological challenge based on how he feels in the car.

“At the beginning of the weekend I said I didn’t feel 100 percent and I think it’s impossible to feel 100 percent after spending seven to ten days in bed just trying to recover. But the good thing is that I had no pain, I just had discomfort and everything felt a bit weird inside, but I can push.

“Especially today I can push flat out. Yesterday at the beginning I took it a bit easy and tried to do some tweaks to the seat, to the belts and to the brake pedal. Today when the adrenaline came up in qualifying, I could close the visor and go for it, which is a good thing. Hopefully tomorrow I still do another step of recovery, putting a lot of emphasis on physiotherapy and recovery these days, I have been very focused around it and hopefully I can be OK.

“Without going into too much detail, I feel like it is exactly what Alex [Albon] told me before jumping in the car. He said when he had his appendix removed with the G-force and everything moving, it feels like it is moving more inside than normal and you need some confidence to brace the core and body as you used to before. But you get used to it.

“It’s something where there is no pain, nothing to worry about, just a weird feeling that you have to get used to while driving — especially in this circuit where you are pulling five or six G in some of the braking and some of the corners, so everything is moving but without pain, so I can deal with it and adapt to it also.”

Carlos Sainz is keeping his options open for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, saying he will withdraw from the event if he finds Friday practice too difficult, as he attempts his comeback following abdominal surgery.

The Spaniard missed the Saudi Arabian GP after being diagnosed with appendicitis on the morning of qualifying, undergoing immediate surgery and leaving hospital on race day. Sainz will take part in Friday practice in Melbourne but despite showing the determination to drive in practice in Jeddah before his diagnosis, he says he isn’t afraid of admitting he can’t complete the rest of the weekend again if required.

“First of all, just by seeing me move and the exercises that I’m doing in the gym or anything, this tells me I’m fit to jump into the car tomorrow and try,” Sainz said. “But obviously, I’m not stupid, and if I don’t feel good tomorrow, I will be the first one to raise my hand and say that I need another two weeks to the next race.

“This, together with the FIA, is also the plan that we have in place. I have another check with the FIA tomorrow. They are monitoring my progress. I’m the first one that doesn’t want to be in pain or to suffer, to make it any worse. I’m not stupid, and I will be very clear with how I’m feeling and everything.

“On top of that, just going back to Thursday [in Jeddah], I wouldn’t have jumped in the car if it wouldn’t be possible. I did the 26 laps because I could, not because I was in agonizing pain. Yes, it was not an easy 26 laps per session, but I could get them done.”

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Sainz says his recovery has been encouraging in the second week since the operation to remove his appendix, as he had to be patient in the initial days after returning home from Saudi Arabia.

“Every 24 hours I do a lot of progress,” he said. “It’s true that the first week was tough, a lot of time in bed and recovering. That’s when you see things a bit darker but then in the second week the recovery speeds up a lot and I started to feel a lot better.

“Confident I can jump in the car tomorrow and do well. Obviously I put together a very strong recovery plan since I landed back home to be ready for this race, I will jump in the car tomorrow, see how I feel, but I’m feeling positive about it.”

Despite his optimism, Sainz admits he won’t be at his best during his comeback race, but he is hopeful that any loss of fitness won’t prove overly detrimental to his performance.

“First of all it’s possible thanks to the advances that the medicine has done in the last 20-30 years. When my dad had the operation — and maybe some of you guys had it 30-40 years ago — they cut you open. Nowadays with laparoscopy they do three very little holes — that speeds up the recovery, twice or three times as fast as what it used to be.

“The doctors after the operation said it’s obviously going to be tight — it’s 14 days from the operation until I jump in the car on Friday — but it’s possible. Obviously they don’t know what F1 is and the g-forces and everything, but ‘possible’ it is, and ‘possible’ I feel like it will be, given how I’m feeling now.

“Will I be at 100%? For sure not. 100% would mean spend 10 days training, doing simulator, I haven’t done that over the last 10 days, I’ve just been focused on recovering. But will I be fit to race? The feeling right now is yes and see how I feel tomorrow.”