Tag Archives: Carlos Sainz

Vasseur joins the Ferrari celebrations in Mexico on Sunday

Ferrari Formula 1 boss Fred Vasseur says that Carlos Sainz was “really under control” over the course of the Mexico City GP weekend.

Sainz set two laps that were good enough for pole, and having ceded the lead to Max Verstappen on the first lap he fought back to score a dominant win.

He was chased for his while by team mate Charles Leclerc. The US GP winner eventually dropped behind Lando Norris to take third after running wide coming out of the final corner.

“It was a very strong weekend from the beginning,” said Vasseur of Sainz. “From FP1 he was there, FP2 he was very strong, a long stint, and one-lap pace. And the race, he did a very good job at the end.

“If you have a look, that he was really under control. I think was very clever to give up the position in the lap one. And it’s also the proof that he is very self-confident in this situation, because when you are fighting with Max and you are to give up and say, ‘Okay, I will do it next lap,’ it’s a good move.”

Expanding on that theme he said: “I think what was very clever from Carlos, and it was already the same last week I think with Russell, is that when you are in the fight and you are overtaking someone, and you are not sure, to give back the position. And the two times that he was able to come back the lap after and to do the move again.

“And I think it was a very clever, clever move, because that you can fight three or four corners in a row. First you lose two seconds, and at the end you will get the penalty or not. But you are really on the edge.

“I think he was very self-confident. It meant that he gave a position, but I think he was also convinced that he will be able to do it next time.”

Vasseur also defended Leclerc, noting that he lost out under blue flags while being chased by Norris, and that triggered his mistake at the final corner.

He also hinted that the Monegasque driver had more cooling issues to manage than his team mate.

“I think that Charles was on a good pace, but we lost three seconds with the guys who were blue flag,” he said. “And we lost also a lot of temperature in the tyres at this stage. And then he made a mistake. But I think from the beginning, the race was in our control.”

“The race in Mexico. And I don’t want to give technical details, it’s a lot about management, the cooling on everything, and it’s not an easy exercise. And sometimes, for details, you are on the right side or not.

“Carlos did a very good job from the beginning. He was also in clean air all the race, and it’s also much easier to manage in this situation.

“Charles was not happy with FP3. But still today, he did a good race. I’m a bit upset with the story with the blue flag. It cost us P2, but at the end of the day, it is like it is. We have to be focused now on the next one, and to forget this one.”

Sainz has made his mind up – finally!

Carlos Sainz has made up his mind and committed to the Williams Formula 1 team with a long term deal that should take him beyond 2026 with the Grove outfit – ensuring that other vacant seats can now be filled.

The news comes as little surprise after bullish statements to the media from James Vowles in Spa suggested that the deal was set be announced soon.

After weeks of examining his options Sainz has turned down both Audi and Alpine, with the recent management turmoil in both camps perhaps the final deciding factors.

It was widely thought that the arrival of Flavio Briatore at Alpine and a planned switch to Mercedes power would make the Enstone team more attractive to Sainz, but the general feeling in the paddock that the team is simply set up to be sold by Renault, and that clearly didn’t appeal.

Although Sainz knows new Sauber/Audi boss Mattia Binotto well from their days at Ferrari he did all his initial negotiations with previous incumbent Andreas Seidl, and while some see the change of leadership as a positive it also points at uncertainty in the camp on top of the unknown form of the 2026 power unit.

Williams, with stable leadership under James Vowles and bold plans for the future, ultimately appealed more than rivals.

“It is no secret that this year’s driver market has been exceptionally complex for various reasons and that it has taken me some time to announce my decision,” said Sainz.

“However, I am fully confident that Williams is the right place for me to continue my F1 journey and I am extremely proud of joining such a historic and successful team, where many of my childhood heroes drove in the past and made their mark on our sport.

“The ultimate goal of bringing Williams back to where it belongs, at the front of the grid, is a challenge that I embrace with excitement and positivity. I am convinced that this team has all the right ingredients to make history again and starting on January 1 I will give my absolute best to drive Williams forward alongside every single member of the team.”

Sainz made it clear that he believes in the team’s vision: “I want to thank James Vowles and the entire Board of Williams for their trust and determination. Their solid leadership and convictions have played an important role in my decision-making.

“I truly believe that the core of every successful team lies amongst their people and their culture. Williams is synonymous with heritage and pure racing, the foundations of the project that lies ahead of us are very strong and I am really looking forward to being part of it starting next year.”

Vowles, who has pulled off a major coup by both holding on to Albon and attracting Sainz, has madem it clear that the team has a big future.

“Carlos joining Williams is a strong statement of intent from both parties,” he said. “Carlos has demonstrated time and again that he is one of the most talented drivers on the grid, with race-winning pedigree, and this underlines the upwards trajectory we are on.

“Carlos brings not just experience and performance, but also a fierce drive to extract every millisecond out of the team and car; the fit is perfect.

“In Alex and Carlos we will have one of the most formidable driver line-ups on the grid and with huge experience to guide us into the new regulations in 2026. Their belief in this organisation’s mission demonstrates the magnitude of the work going on behind the scenes.

“People should be in no doubt about our ambition and momentum as we continue our journey back to competitiveness – we are here, we are serious and with Dorilton’s backing we are investing in what it takes to return to the front of the grid. 

“I also want to thank Logan for everything he has done for the team and know he will continue to fight hard for us in the races ahead.”

Attention now moves to the remaining seats on the 2025 F1 grid. Sauber incumbent Valtteri Bottas is well placed to retain his seat, although the team is known to be looking at young drivers, and is waiting to see how the Red Bull/VCARB situation shakes out.

Jack Doohan is set to graduate to an Alpine race seat, and the Aussie will continue his development programme in the team’s 2022 test car at Spa this week.

Sainz has been left frustrated by Ferrari’s backwards step

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari’s current situation is “clearly not good enough” after the team reverted to its older Imola aero package in an attempt to stop bouncing.

Sainz took a solid fifth place in the British GP and bagged the bonus point for fastest lap as he had a pit stop window that allowed him to take new tyres, but the red cars lagged behind Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren all weekend.

The bouncing issues that emerged in high-speed corners with the most recent package made the car what Sainz called “undriveable”, obliging the team to return to the early spec of floor at Silverstone.

“Clearly not good enough,” said Sainz about the current situation. “We are basically with the same car as in Imola. Since Imola, everyone has upgraded, and they’ve probably added a few tenths to the car, while we had to revert and we’ve lost two or three months there of performance gain in the wind tunnel and performance that we could have added in these three months.

“So clearly, we haven’t taken the right calls recently, but I feel like today was at least back to basics approach, back to a car that we know was okay in Imola, and we just need to upgrade it from here. But unfortunately it’s clear that our rivals are a good step ahead of us.”

Asked by this writer if the slower Hungaroring might be more suited to the newer floor he agreed that it might be worth the compromise.

“Yes,” he said. “It still means we will bounce in Turn 4 and 11. But until something better will come, we might need to live with the bouncing for slow speed performance, while in high-speed tracks, we might need to run this floor of the old package, if not the other one is undriveable.”

Regarding the return to high-speed in Spa he said: “So far, the situation we’re in, I trust the team will do the right calls, circuit-to-circuit, until a more solid package – which is not bouncing in high-speed and good in low-speed – arrives. And then we will start thinking about battling the top three teams again.”

Meanwhile Sainz felt that the team did the best with the car it had at Silverstone in a race that saw cars to switch to intermediates for the damp middle stages of the race.

“I think today we did the maximum,” he said. “I’m particularly happy with today’s race, because even if we were not fast enough in full dry or full wet conditions, we got all the pit stop calls right.

“And especially middle of the race when it was slick on wet, I managed to catch the podium places by six, seven seconds in those conditions that I always enjoy, and we put ourselves in the fight for the podium. But unfortunately, as soon as it got full wet or full dry, we were just not quick enough.”

Sainz said he had done his homework before the race: “To be honest, I had studied a lot the weather and everything with my engineers. So I was very confident going into the race that we were capable of getting the calls right today.

“We did some good runs in FP1 and FP2 to measure the conditions. And today we were fully ready, and we executed a perfect race. Honestly, all the calls were pretty much spot-on, all the tyres, all the radio calls.

“It’s just a shame that we were not faster in the first part of the race, or faster on the inters, or faster at the end, because I feel like we would have been 100% on the fight for the podium or the win today. But very happy, a bonus point at the end with fastest lap. So we need to be happy.”

He added: “It was just unfortunate that I wasn’t closer at the beginning, or closer at the end, because it’s one of the races where today I felt like could have had a good chance.”