One month after news broke that his seat at Ferrari would go to Lewis Hamilton from 2025, Carlos Sainz began his final season in Ferrari red with a podium result during Saturday’s (March 2) Bahrain Grand Prix. In the process, Sainz not only outperformed his teammate, but likewise laid down a pace to match the fastest car in the field, establishing and maintaining an impressive gap to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez throughout the race’s latter half.
“I felt really good out there today,” Sainz told Sky Sport’s ___ after the race. “The start wasn’t ideal, but from then on I just managed my tires well and then from there I could do my pace. Overtook two or three cars on the way to the podium and then keeping up with the Red Bull there at the end, which was a pleasant surprise.”
There was no mention of his impending free agency when Sainz spoke with Coulthard. Instead, attention turned quickly to the next round of the season in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
“It will be a bit of a surprise for everyone to see where we are,” Sainz said. “I expect cars like the McLaren and the Red Bull – last year they were very good at high speed circuits – to be competitive there. But, you know, our car has also improved at high speeds so hopefully we can also be strong there.”
Sainz qualified fourth and ended the first lap of the race running fifth after a sluggish start from the second row on the grid. Following teammate Charles Leclerc and Perez, Sainz attached himself to a DRS train forming behind then-second-place runner George Russell. The opportunity to go for fourth place came on lap 11, by which point Leclerc had started to show weakness under braking as his Ferrari continued to lock up the right-front tire into the Sakhir International Circuit’s tricky turn 10.
Coming into turn 1, with Leclerc being given no DRS from third-placed Perez, Sainz made a late dive on his teammate under braking, which Leclerc with no choice but to try and hold it together around Sainz’s outside. Despite Leclerc’s best effort, the No. 55 Ferrari was through for fourth.
Ferrari responded by pitting Leclerc for hard tires – and the undercut – on lap 12 while leaving Sainz out on track until lap 14.
Sainz emerged from the pits directly behind Leclerc, also on hard tires, while the latter was receiving DRS from Russell. Despite the team’s decision to leave Sainz out on track and pit Leclerc first (typically, the driver who…
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