Carlos Sainz: I ran the race aggressively

Carlos Sainz is feeling quite positive after the first race of the season, in which he finished third behind Red Bull Racing, and believes Ferrari can challenge the championship team this year.

Q: A year ago you took 4th place in Bahrain, and now you are on the podium – how important is this to you?
Carlos Sainz: In my opinion, it is always important to start the season well and have a confident first race, and this is important not only for my future, but also for myself. Last year in many races I actually had to look in the rear view mirrors, take care of the tires and protect my position.

I remember saying now at the presentation of the new car that this year I want the SF24 to allow me to race at full strength, so that I can attack and at the same time not have to worry too much about tire wear, I can overtake and at the same time look forward and not back. That’s exactly what happened today.

I rode the race aggressively, we had a good pace which allowed us to take 3rd place. You can’t call it easy, but I had a lot of fun.

Question: Did you have any problems with the brakes that Charles Leclerc complained about?
Carlos Sainz: During the first part of the distance and at the beginning of the second, as soon as we entered traffic, strong vibrations appeared in the brakes and at some point the pedal travel began to increase. In general, we always had to find a compromise: try to attack and overtake rivals to get out of the disturbed air zone, or take care of the brakes, because they could fail.

On the straights I tried to move to the side to cool the car down a bit, and the vibrations became less noticeable. Then I was able to catch up and move forward. But still there were difficulties at the beginning of the race and the brakes became to some extent a limiting factor. But when everything stabilized, I was already able to maintain the desired pace, overtake and fight for the podium.

Q: Tell us in more detail about these overtakes, especially about overtaking Charles, because from the outside it seemed that the moment was quite acute. How was everything observed from the cockpit of the car?
Carlos Sainz: I didn’t feel like the moment was particularly acute. When I overtake a teammate I always try to give him as much space as possible on the track and I felt like the situation was completely under control and that I wasn’t endangering anyone. That’s exactly how I did it and it seems to me that overtaking worked out well. I also monitor Charles’ actions and try to prevent him from wasting time or experiencing other similar problems.

Question: Were you surprised by the pace the Red Bull cars were capable of over the Grand Prix distance?
Carlos Sainz: No, I saw how Max and Sergio did long sets of laps in the second practice and how they did the same in the tests, so there were no secrets for me. I understood that their lead in one lap was three or four tenths, if not 0.5 seconds, as George Russell believes. It depends on the condition of the track.

I understood that it would be very difficult to stay ahead of Red Bull. In addition, they saved new sets of soft tires, and this made it possible to some extent to assess their plans. That’s why I tried to stay behind one of the cars of this team, and the fact that I got the chance to fight with Sergio Perez was a pleasant surprise in itself.

I believe Bahrain is one of the most favorable circuits for Red Bull all season because there is intense degradation of the rear tires. Hopefully, when we go to circuits with more loads on the front wheels and perhaps better surfaces, our car will perform more efficiently and we will have the chance to challenge Max and fight for the win.

Q: From the outside it looked like Ferrari was trying to use ‘cutting’ tactics against you so that Charles would get ahead of you – is that true?
Carlos Sainz: I don’t think the team had those exact intentions. Probably the tire wear on Charles’ car started a little earlier than mine, and the decision was made to keep me on the track for three or four laps longer.

To be honest, I did these laps at a very good pace and fortunately such tactics did not affect my race as I was able to get ahead of Charles quite quickly and attack George, who I also quickly overtook. I don’t think I lost too much time in that situation.

Question: Can we say that in this race you proved that you can really compete with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in 2024?
Carlos Sainz: I hope we succeed. I believe that for the time being we are giving them too much to seriously compete with them for victories in the races, when their team is acting perfectly and everything is working for them. Overall, the SF24 feels much more normal to drive compared to last year and has efficient aerodynamics.

The basis is good and now we just have to increase the downforce and then we will gradually overtake them. But we must start this work now, because if this is not done, they will increase their efforts and become too distant from us.