Sainz: This is my last year at Ferrari and I have nothing to lose

Carlos Sainz had a very confident Japanese Grand Prix and took 3rd place, again ahead of his teammate. After the race he commented on the results, emphasizing that success largely depended on the right tactics.

Question: Carlos, good result. Yesterday Max Verstappen said that Ferrari is capable of very good pace over the race distance. Were you sure about this when you were preparing for the Japanese Grand Prix?
Carlos Sainz: You could say we understood that our race pace was better than our qualifying pace. But still we are not fast enough to claim victory, because you can hardly count on that when you start from 4th position, knowing what pace the Red Bull cars are capable of over the race distance.

But I hoped to get on the podium and I finally succeeded, even though the race was very difficult and a lot depended on tactics. The track conditions changed noticeably during the race. Before the start the sun was shining, which was not the case all weekend, and closer to the finish the sky became cloudy. The level of rubber degradation noticeably decreased and in the second half of the race it was possible to attack much more intensely.

After this the situation changed noticeably. At one point I thought it wouldn’t be possible to get on the podium, but when they put a new set of hard tires on the car it was able to keep an excellent pace and I returned to the top three.

Q: Can you talk about the progress Ferrari has made in the last six months since the last race at Suzuka? Ferrari used excellent tactics and you halved the gap to Red Bull over the course of the race. How much do you like these two facts?
Carlos Sainz: Yes, they are very happy. We made improvements to exactly the areas of the car that we wanted to improve, and this was confirmed at Suzuka. Still, we are not as fast as Red Bull on such circuits, and our aim is to overtake them.

But once we prepare effective technical innovations that will allow us to move in the right direction, I hope we will become even closer to the leaders. However, the improvements have had an impact in all areas, especially on race pace. It also gives us the opportunity to be more flexible in choosing tactics – something we lacked last year.

This allows me to get ahead during the race, and instead of looking in the rear-view mirrors, I follow rational tactics and get ahead of my opponents – last year we didn’t have this opportunity at all. That’s why I’m happy and enjoy racing more.

Question: But do you have the feeling that Max Verstappen is already clearly on his way to his fourth title?
Carlos Sainz: Red Bull will certainly have an advantage in the first third of the season until we introduce some serious new products that allow us to compete more consistently with the leaders. But by then it could be too late, considering how much of a lead they’ve already built up.

I would also like to see more races in Australia! However, I don’t think the Red Bull team will make these kinds of mistakes often. It’s also a shame that I personally missed one race, and this could also have a significant impact on our situation in the championship – both mine and Ferrari’s.

But we will try to make up for it, especially because this is my last year in the Scuderia, so I have nothing to lose.

Question: The Chinese Grand Prix has not been held for several years – what do you think of the fact that they have now decided to immediately include the Saturday sprint in their program? After all, all teams will have many questions and you only need one training session to prepare for qualifying…
Carlos Sainz: I think there are two different themes here. In my opinion, Shanghai circuit has a great race track, and everyone loves it because of the possibility of overtaking, so it makes sense to have the sprint there. But at the same time, during the pilot briefing, we raised this topic and told the FIA ​​​​and Formula 1 that this is not the best idea if we have to participate in qualifying almost immediately with the current generation of cars, after a single practice session. After all, it is enough to miss one bump and the car will suffer serious damage.

It will be difficult for teams to assess in detail how the circuit has changed in the four or five years it has not been on the calendar. And then the sprint was immediately included in the program of the Chinese stage. We also heard that they are now replacing asphalt there, which means there is a risk that the image we already saw in Istanbul in 2020 will repeat itself. I hope this won’t happen.

But there is uncertainty. It may be interesting to watch the progress of such stages from the outside, but it will not be easy for engineers and drivers. In my opinion, we should not take additional risks and it is better to spend the weekend as usual.