Carlos Sainz: I should have played like this since the start of the season

Carlos Sainz finished third in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, his ninth podium of the season. After the race, he said he finally got the hang of the Ferrari F1-75, although he should have been at this level from the start of the championship.

Q: Carlos, you had a great Sao Paulo Grand Prix. This is your ninth podium in 2022 – can it be called one of your best performances?
Carlos Sainz: Yes absolutely. First of all, because we worked confidently this weekend, despite some difficulties, because there was a fine for replacing the engine, and a film of the visor getting stuck in the brake channel, almost knocking me out of the race, because the brakes started to burn. I then thought the race was almost over for me.

In addition, I had to switch to the three pit stop tactic very early. I thought this was not the best tactic, but from then on I had this mentality: you have to forget everything and just attack until the end at the limit, and then we’ll see what comes of it.

It’s good that we were able to regain the pace, we went very fast. At the end of the race we even had to overtake Sergio Perez and finished on the podium, so I’m in a good mood.

Q: You said there was a film of the visor in the brake channel: were there any problems with the brakes after the first pit stop?
Carlos Sainz: I think the problems were one or two laps before that: the brakes overheated, this caused the tire to overheat. It wasn’t easy for me, I could barely keep the car on the track, it was hard to keep my concentration. After that we had a pit stop, although this may have been a bit delayed due to all this.

An early pit stop forced me to switch to the three pit stop tactic, but after that the car worked well and I was able to attack. We did a good stint on soft tires, I overtook a lot of my opponents, but my race really started when I switched back to the Medium kit after the first half of the distance: then I was able to show good results on the circle and turned back to the fight.

Q: We saw that Red Bull had problems with the Medium tires during the sprint on Saturday. I remember you saying that soft tires were the right choice for the sprint, but why did you decide to start on Medium in the Grand Prix?
Carlos Sainz: It seemed to me that starting from 7th position I had nothing to lose, even if we pass the first segment of the race on this rubber. I thought I could easily beat Lando Norris and make it to the top six, but after this segment I don’t have to put those tires on anymore and I can ride the remaining two thirds of the distance on soft tires.

It seemed to me that I could show good pace towards the end of the race with this tactic, but I still had to use Medium as we switched to a three-stop schedule. If you change tires often, it’s hard to get into the right rhythm, but I think we made the right decisions.

Q: Charles Leclerc asked the team at the end of the race to let him switch positions with you: what do you think of this?
Carlos Sainz: I only found out after the finish and before that neither my engineer nor the team told me anything. In general I have nothing to say as I only found out when I got out of the car.

Question In all the recent stages of the season you show a very stable pace, you have a good qualifying and in the races you are overtaking a lot. Do you feel like you have finally discovered the features of the Ferrari F1-75?
Carlos Sainz: I think so. I think I should have played at this level from the start of the season, but I’ve just reached it now. In general, this did not happen suddenly, and really just says that I understood this car.

Together with my engineers, we put a lot of effort into making me feel comfortable behind the wheel, although of course I had to change my driving style in many ways to show good results. But on the bright side, it gives me confidence as I prepare for next year because I can finally show what I can do.