Carlos Sainz celebrates his 29th birthday at Monza

When Carlos Sainz showed up this morning at the door of the cozy old hotel where the Ferrari racers live in Monza, a crowd of fans was already waiting for him at the gate, which caused a true ovation. The reason for this is quite appropriate: today Carlos turned 29 years old.

“No matter what happens, but when I’m 70, I’ll remember these days, these emotions, this pressure and this joy! he said the day before. “When the Italian Grand Prix is ​​your home race, you get an incomparable feeling.”

Sainz is unlikely to have a chance to fight for victory this weekend – Ferrari are not among the favorites this season, but there is still hope for the podium. Although Sainz and Leclerc unanimously say that the SF-23 behaves unstable and unpredictable on the track, it will become clear later to what extent the erratic nature of the car will manifest itself at Monza.

Carlos, meanwhile, comments on the situation: “Usually I perform well in Monza, as part of another team I was among the contenders for victory here (in 2020 he really finished 2nd behind the wheel of McLaren), but I not me. I don’t know if our car will allow us to fight for the podium.

Following yesterday’s news that Lewis Hamilton will be staying at Mercedes for another two seasons, Sainz was asked if he would be driving under 40 in Formula 1? At the same time, Fernando Alonso, who climbed the podium again a week ago, is already 42 years old, and Kimi Räikkönen also traded his fifth decade when he still played for Alfa Romeo.

“To tell the truth, when I see how great the racers who are already over 40 are doing now, I could say yes,” Carlos told Marca newspaper. – Moreover, those of us who are now thirty will be better in ten years’ time than those who are now forty. Yet the rules are changing, the direction of Formula 1 is changing, races, different events, flights from circuit to circuit are becoming more and more and the calendar is getting tighter.

But everyone decides for himself whether his dreams have come true, or whether there are still battles to be fought to win. On the one hand, there is the example of Nico Rosberg, on the other, Fernando. Everyone chooses what they want in life, but personally I can assure you that I still have a lot of strength.”

So far Sainz has only had one win – last year he won the British Grand Prix, but he already has 15 podiums, 3 poles and 3 best laps. He has never hidden that his cherished dream is to become a world champion, but so far its realization has been postponed.