Carlos Sainz says Ferrari’s upturn in form is “bittersweet” for him, because he feels the squad is gearing up to be firmly in the world title hunt next year when he’s no longer there.
Ferrari has overcome a car development setback in the middle part of the 2024 season to regain competitiveness in recent races, especially on circuits with relatively few high-speed corners.
Charles Leclerc won Monza’s Italian Grand Prix in September and was fighting for victory in Baku, while a botched qualifying session prevented both he and Sainz from competing up front in Singapore. But the pair struck back by taking a 1-2 victory last week in Austin, led by Leclerc, which is bringing Ferrari back in championship contention.
Ferrari’s resurgence is the culmination of a long process, with the team unable to sustain its development rate after a strong start to the 2022 season. In 2023 Fred Vasseur came in as a team boss to drive the squad forward in every department as he aimed to improve its culture and weed out operational mistakes, which is paying dividends this year with much improve race pace.
Sainz has been there for most of the build-up, joining Maranello from McLaren for 2021, but he will be departing for Williams next year after Vasseur snapped up Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes at the start of the year.
So, while the Spaniard was buoyed by Ferrari’s upturn in performance as he took his sixth pole of his career with the team, he admitted his Mexico pole was tinged with sadness as he won’t be able to complete his journey with the resurgent Scuderia in 2025.
Pole man Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari, in the post Qualifying Press Conference
Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images
“It’s very sweet, given how good the car is, how well I’m driving recently, obviously optimistic going into the last five races,” he said after beating 2024’s title protagonists Max Verstappen and Lando Norris, as well as Leclerc, in qualifying.
“At the same time, it’s bittersweet because it gives me a feeling Ferrari might be in the fight for the world championship next year and I will not be there to use it.
“I feel like I’ve been quite a big part of this team during the last four years trying to prepare the team to fight for that championship next year. And the fact that I’m driving well, being fast with the car and I’m leaving in five races is definitely leaves me a bit… I don’t know how to say it, but not with a very good feeling.
“But it is what it…
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