Carlos Sainz is on the home stretch of his Ferrari time. In his four years with the traditional Italian racing team, the racing driver was able to achieve a number of successes, including four Grand Prix victories and a total of 23 podium finishes. Nevertheless, Ferrari decided against a further shared future with the Spaniard and will replace him with record world champion Lewis Hamilton next year. A mistake?
Former Formula 1 driver and long-time TV expert Marc Surer is at least convinced that Carlos Sainz himself has the talent and qualities to have a say in the drivers’ world championship.
“Because he can live with compromises and is still incredibly fast. And over the course of the year, these are the drivers that you have to pay attention to,” said the Swiss in an interview on the “formel1.de” YouTube channel. .
With his ability to adapt quickly in the vehicle, the Spaniard has an advantage over drivers who are only fast “when the car is right”.
Surer explained Sainz’s great strength: “He can live with it if the car isn’t perfect, he can adapt to it, he can deal with it. If the car is good, then Leclerc is incredibly fast. But only then. If that “The car isn’t quite perfect, Sainz is faster,” he said, analyzing the current balance of power at Ferrari.
In the first season together, the Spaniard ended up just ahead of his Monegasque teammate in the drivers’ standings (164.5 to 159 World Championship points), while Leclerc performed better than his teammate in the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
Sainz is currently fifth in the drivers’ standings
For Surer, the team management’s decision to part with Sainz instead of Leclerc to make room for Lewis Hamilton was understandable: “Of course you always take the one who is ultimately the slower of the two.”
After Toro Rosso, Renault and McLaren, Ferrari is the fourth team in a row to release Sainz from his contract, even though they could have kept him. Surer therefore made up his mind: “I would say that Sainz is underestimated because he has the ability to still show performance, even if the car is not so perfect.”
Surer therefore believes it is still possible in the future that the 30-year-old will “at some point” be able to compete for the Formula 1 World Cup crown again.
Sainz currently has 244 points in the 2024 Drivers’ World Championship and is therefore in fifth position in the overall standings. His teammate Charles Leclerc is third with 307 points.
Source: www.sport.de
