Carlos Sainz: I race for myself

Two weeks after the operation in Jeddah, Carlos Sainz won the race in Melbourne and spoke about his feelings…

Question: What a race, Carlos! Congratulations. What does this win mean to you, considering everything you’ve been through in the two weeks since the surgery?
Carlos Sainz: I think it’s not just the last two weeks. The year started for me with the news that Ferrari would not renew my contract.

Then I resigned myself, prepared for the start of the season, gave everything, was on the podium in Bahrain and suddenly I missed the race in Jeddah and had surgery. Long days in bed, not knowing if I’ll be back in time.

There were many questions. Will I be in good shape again? Will I be able to feel comfortable while driving? And suddenly you come back and you win. Life can be a rollercoaster sometimes, but sometimes it can be very sweet and kind. I enjoy the moment.

Q: Were you concerned about your health before the race?
Carlos Sainz: In the first half of the race I was sure that everything would be fine, as I covered more or less the same distance on Friday. Luckily I was able to pull away, got out of the pressure, kept the situation under control and kept an eye on the tyres.

If you have an advantage, you can choose where to attack and where to slow down. I won’t lie, I felt tired the last five or ten laps, but nothing that slowed me down too much.

Q: Tell us about the first laps and the moment you overtook Max Verstappen and took the lead…
Carlos Sainz: I had a good start from the dirty side of the grid, but I couldn’t attack Max in the first corner, so it was important to avoid granulation of the tires in the first laps.

At the same time, I knew that this weekend and this race I had the speed to challenge Max. And I thought that as powerful as the DRS is here, I could put pressure on it if I got into DRS range after the first lap.

I think he made a mistake in Turn 3, which allowed me to stay within the DRS range and I felt like I was very fast. I don’t know when his brakes failed, but running second in a disrupted airflow is not the same as leading by a large margin on a clear track.

Question: Do you think Ferrari closed the gap on Red Bull this weekend, or did they fail to unleash the full potential of their car?
Carlos Sainz: Our car actually performed very well this weekend. I think it will be difficult to maintain this pace on all circuits until we launch new products, but in Australia it was clear on Friday that we could fight for the win.

Yes, there will be circuits where we will be strong, like last year. This season our race pace has gotten faster. I hope we can challenge Red Bull more often.

Question: Carlos, how do you feel after you’re done? Did you have to remember to be careful when leaving your car?
Carlos Sainz: My body is still in defense mode. Everything I do, I do a little slower and a little more carefully, because the loads going through my stomach cause a slightly strange feeling.

No pain, even if I’m a bit in defense mode, I can drive without any problems. Physically, I felt a little stiff towards the end of the race. Spending seven days in bed is not very good for your fitness. But like I said, it wasn’t until the last stretch that I felt more restricted, and before that everything was fine. I had confidence in the car and in my abilities.

Q: Tell us in more detail how you recovered so quickly?
Carlos Sainz: As soon as I had my appendix removed, I went online and started talking to professionals and asking, “What will help speed up recovery?” And from that moment on I did everything I could. Together with my team I developed a plan.

The reason athletes recover faster is because you can spend 24 hours a day on it for seven days. That’s what I did. I spent an hour twice a day in a hyperbaric oxygenation chamber, using the Indiba device – this is something like this for regeneration. I made a schedule for staying in bed, walking, eating. Everything was focused on rebuilding to be ready for Australia.

Nine days ago, when I had to fly to Australia, I was still in bed. I could barely move when the burden was on my stomach. I thought I wouldn’t be able to participate in the race. But I flew and when we landed in Australia I felt much better. Each subsequent 24 hours I made much more progress than in the first seven days, and that’s exactly what the doctors said: “Don’t worry, in the second week the improvements will be much greater every day than in the first.” Alex Albon told me this too. So I kind of followed what I was told.

Q: Do you think this win will help your contract situation?
Carlos Sainz: I do not know. It certainly won’t hurt. But for now I’m still out of work for next year. I think everyone more or less knows what I’m capable of. I race for myself. I race to prove to myself that I can win when I have a competitive car, when there is a chance to win. I don’t race to prove my worth to managers or other people.