F1 driver Carlos Sainz embraces final races as Ferrari driver: “Nobody can take that away from us”

September 7, 2024

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F1 driver Carlos Sainz embraces final races as Ferrari driver: “Nobody can take that away from us”

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MONZA, Italy — Carlos Sainz admitted the Italian Grand Prix weekend would be emotional.

The week leading up to Ferrari’s home Grand Prix is one of the busiest for Sainz and his team, who face extra pressure to perform. It can be easy to get caught up in the daily grind: marketing, media and sponsorship commitments, technical meetings and greeting fans, to name a few. Hundreds of people wait just outside the gates of the Ferrari drivers’ hotel, he says, for a chance to get a photo, an autograph or just to cheer them on.

During these kinds of weekends, like the races in Monza, Sainz tries to be more present.

“I usually end up in a circle where I think what I’m experiencing is normal, because now, after four years as a Ferrari driver, it feels normal and standard,” Sainz told The Athletics“It’s very easy to take everything for granted and think that having all those people there is normal, that the races in Monza are normal, that it becomes a track and a routine.”

But his perspective on weekends like this can turn to appreciation. After all, Sainz recently turned 30. He’s spent 10 years on the grid, and the Singapore Grand Prix will mark his 200th career grand prix. He joined the Formula 1 grid in 2015 and became a Ferrari driver in 2021. He took his first pole position and win with the Prancing Horse, and has gone on to claim five pole positions, 21 podiums and three wins in his four seasons with the Maranello crew. And at the end of the season, Sainz will close that chapter and head to Grove, England, to join Williams.

But for now, he’s focusing on where his feet are.

“When you go to so many races that we do nowadays, it’s very easy to think that everything feels very routine,” he continued of the Italian GP weekend. “So I try to detach myself from that feeling and try to be really grateful, and always try to tell myself what Carlos, when he was 11, 12, 13 years old, would have thought about it.

“If you told him that I would be experiencing these moments now, I’m sure he wouldn’t believe it. He would enjoy it and try to embrace it as much as possible.”

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Getting Through a ‘Roller Coaster’ Season

Sainz describes himself as a “short-term thinker”, focused on the next race or the next year. Becoming a Ferrari driver is a dream for most – if not all – competitors in the sport, as it is one of the most successful F1 teams.

While racing for Toro Rosso (now known as RB), he built up a good relationship with the Italian mechanics and engineers. He said: “I knew they had a good word for me with the Italian engineers at Ferrari, because they normally fly together, because the bases are only an hour apart. And then I thought maybe I could be a Ferrari driver one day.”

Sainz won’t close the door on a Ferrari reunion one day. (Sipa USA)

It happened in 2021, four years after his Toro Rosso chapter. One of his first memories with Ferrari took place at a special track for the team and company: Fiorano Circuit. It’s a figure-eight track where Ferrari tests its cars, located near the factory in Maranello. Sainz remembers putting on the red suit and jumping into the red car, while his father (a well-known and successful rally champion) looked on.

“I saw him, a little tear in his eye when they told me I was leaving the pits in Fiorano for my first installation lap in red,” Sainz said. “That’s a memory I’ll never forget.”

Sainz’s most successful seasons have come during this chapter with Ferrari, the first top team he has ever competed for. The 2024 season will mark the end of his two-year deal, and he thrives on stability. Before Christmas last winter, Sainz indicated that his priority was to stay with the Prancing Horse. There seemed little reason to doubt that Ferrari would extend its contracts with Charles Leclerc, keeping together one of the sport’s most consistently competitive driver pairings.

But then came February 1, 2024.

News broke that Lewis Hamilton would join the Italian team in 2025, replacing Sainz, casting doubt on the Spaniard’s future. He became the hottest name on the driver market, but the crazy season lasted much of 2024. To this day, Sainz still describes this year as a “rollercoaster”, touching on the highlights of winning in Australia (16 days after surgery for appendicitis) and figuring out his future in the sport.

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“What I’ve experienced this year is not ideal for performing at your highest level as an athlete,” Sainz said at Monza. “I think any driver who wants to perform at the highest level wants to have his future sorted and not worry about that, while he has to perform in a Formula 1 season, in a team that already has a lot of pressure and a lot of attention and a high-tension environment, like at Ferrari.”

But Sainz continues to turn up every weekend, knowing that Hamilton will replace him at the end of the season. Looking back on the campaign, he said he is proud of how he handled the first half of the season “given everything I’ve had to go through and how relatively well the season went.

“But I do believe that there is a time in the athlete when everything is a bit calmer.”

Sainz says it takes your full attention and effort to be competitive in this sport. He puts all his training, time and thought into racing and feels that has helped him win races and perform at the level he has in recent years.

“That’s why I say it’s so important to make sure you have everything under control.”

Sainz drove his last Italian GP with Ferrari last weekend. (Lars Baron/Getty Images)

‘No grudges’ as Williams era approaches

Williams’ pursuit of Sainz began at the Abu Dhabi GP in late 2023, team boss James Vowles confirmed in late July after announcing the Spaniard would join the Grove-based team. Vowles’ message to Sainz remained the same.

“From the beginning, I gave him the warts and all: ‘This is what’s going to happen, we’re going to go backwards, this is why, this is what we’re investing in, this is what’s coming, this is why I’m excited about this project — and it’s your choice, very much so, whether you want to be a part of it,'” Vowles said. “‘But I know we’re going to have success in the future and I know it’s going to cost us money in the short term.’ And I believe that honesty and transparency has paid off.”

Sainz has learned to trust his gut feeling about people during his F1 career, dating back to his McLaren days, where he achieved two podiums in the same number of seasons. He said: “I remember never enjoying racing as much as I did at McLaren with Lando (Norris), with Andrea Stella, and we had a very strong team. And I remember leaving that team thinking I wanted to go to Ferrari and perform there, but I think this team will be successful in the future.”

Three years later, Sainz was right. McLaren is challenging Red Bull for the constructors’ championship, just eight points behind. The human aspect and belief in future success played a role in the decision to join the rebuilding Williams team. One thing that motivates him is how he can help the project move forward.

“I want to feel like I’m being listened to. I want to feel like I can help,” Sainz said at Zandvoort. “And this, in a historic team like Williams, when they have a clear vision and are super committed to bringing the team forward again with very clear investment partners, is something that was important to me.”

Sainz may be moving to an English team next season, but he’s not completely closing the door on Ferrari. And that’s no surprise. He said their relationship isn’t broken — the split is “circumstantial.”

“The fact that I’m leaving at the end of this year, I think there’s nothing wrong with me and Ferrari actually,” he continued. “A seven-time world champion happened to want to come to Ferrari in the last years of his career, and I had to step aside and obviously give my space to Lewis. I have no resentment about that.

“I probably have another five to ten years of career ahead of me. So why would I close the door on a potential comeback?”

‘Always a Ferrari driver’

When Sainz climbed the pit wall and peered through the barbed wire, the crowd dressed in rosso corsa cheered. Leclerc won the Italian Grand Prix that weekend, but that was partly thanks to Sainz.

Sainz helped Leclerc and Ferrari win on home turf by holding off Piastri. The Australian pitted on lap 38 of 53 and closed in quickly as the race progressed. But to catch Leclerc, Piastri had to pass several backmarkers and Sainz. He said after the race that he knew the McLaren driver was catching him and what was at stake.

“I did my best to slow him down for one lap. Of course he was one and a half seconds faster then, so around Monza you can’t do much more than one lap.”

It proved to be enough. Sainz did not finish on the podium, but Piastri ended his day in second place, 2.664 seconds behind Leclerc.

Sainz didn’t make the podium, but he did secure a win for Ferrari. (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

“It was an incredible weekend for me. I enjoyed it immensely. It’s a shame not to be on the podium today. At the same time, I feel like today was a bit of a coin toss as to whether I would stay out of the track or not and do well,” Sainz said. “Charles did a good job with the team. If we wanted to be in that fight, we probably should have stayed in the train with the cars in front of us after the first pit stop. We just lost the chance for a podium there.

“Honestly, I’m really happy for the team to win here this weekend. I wish I was up there on the podium with Charles, but I think he deserves the win more than anyone else today, so congratulations.”

The Spaniard may leave the team at the end of the season, but a section of Ferrari fans will likely continue to follow his career. Sebastian Vettel once said: “Everyone is a Ferrari fan. Even if they say they’re not, they’re a Ferrari fan.” The same could be said of former Ferrari drivers. They may not wear the rosso corsa racing suit, but they will always be part of Ferrari.

“There are many examples on the grid or in the past where every time there was a Ferrari driver who clearly also had success but also had a good relationship with the tifosi, who was then remembered and treated very well by the tifosi around the world wherever they went,” Sainz said.

“I believe that is also true for me. That’s why I’ve always said that once you’re a Ferrari driver, you’re always a Ferrari driver. Nobody can take that away from you. I’ve had the pleasure of doing that for the last four years, and yes, I’m going to enjoy it as much as I can.”