Monza a real taste of Ferrari’s passion for Sainz

He drove a race in Imola in April, but without a crowd. The Italian GP is not entirely normal in the COVID era with a government mandated 50% capacity. However, the Tifosi are not afraid to express their feelings.

Zandvoort has been an incredible experience for the whole of Formula 1, but this weekend will be a reminder of the passion that flows in Italy when Scuderia Ferrari is in action. Sainz has been waiting a long time since it was announced in May 2020.

“I’m a Ferrari driver, but I haven’t had the experience of being a Ferrari driver,” he says. “I only drive for Ferrari, but I haven’t had the experience of enjoying the Tifosi.

“I do that sometimes in Maranello when they come close to me when I go to the factory. But I have to be one of the few Ferrari drivers in history who took more than a year to feel like a Ferrari driver!

“Budapest gave me this first opportunity, the whole fan base there and the love you get from everyone in the hotel.

“I don’t know if you saw my videos on Instagram, but it was crazy. And I can’t wait for Monza. I don’t know how close they will allow them to get to us. But I still think it’s going to be amazing. “

What the fans want to see are Sainz and his teammate Charles Leclerc, who is contesting his third Italian GP start for the Scuderia and who won the race at the front in 2019.

Leclerc took pole in Monaco this year, a completely different track, and did so in Baku, which, like Monza, combines full throttle with slow things – but also has some fast corners. Sainz is not quite sure what to expect this weekend.

“Monza is weird because we should be good at the first two chicanes,” he said. “Of course the straights in between are not that good. But yes, I hope it can be a good weekend too, if the low-downforce package works well and delivers all the downforce we want.”

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21

Photo by: Erik Junius

Sainz has already done more than enough to win the Tifosi over. He always seemed to have been born a Ferrari driver and on the track he has proven that he can do his job.

Leclerc is generally ahead, but often not by much. Sainz is currently in seventh place in the world championship with 89.5 points, just two and a half behind his teammate, who admittedly did not start in Monaco or Hungary.

After 13 laps last year, the Spaniard was eighth at 65, four behind McLaren team-mate Lando Norris.

“I’ve read that it was obviously my best start in terms of scores,” he says. “But as I said before the summer break, I had the feeling that I made the first half of the season better in terms of pure performance as a driver.

“I think my third season at Toro Rosso has really maximized the car you have and got the best possible result that this car can get every weekend.

“Of course I have more points now because the car is more competitive than it was then. But I think I still have a head start and I stay critical and analytical because as a driver you know you want to maximize that. ”You can do that.

“Let’s see how the second half of the season develops and how I can develop with the team.”

The first part of the year was mixed. There were highlights like an excellent second place in Monaco and a third (after Vettel’s exclusion) in Hungary.

“Disappointments were 11th when the car was difficult in Portugal and France and 10th after a frustrating qualifying at Spa where the race was abandoned. But overall it wasn’t too shabby.

“Well, I think it’s been a good one so far. I wouldn’t say it’s a great one, but a good one. And given the challenge that was ahead of me and all the unknowns, I think I would be pretty can.” happy about it.

“The fact that I was so quick in the car right away and felt at the limit of the car pretty much immediately made me a lot more relaxed over the weekends because I knew I would be up to speed.

“The challenge was more to put the weekend together, the way I used to set it up at McLaren, that brings the points and the overall result in the end. But I have the feeling that a lot has happened on this side too.” Improvement since race one.

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari SF21

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“And if I keep improving, I should soon be as constant as I want and then continue to use the good speed I have in the car.”

The aspect of merging the weekend was also highlighted by team boss Mattia Binotto. As others have shown – especially Daniel Ricciardo – it is not easy to switch to a new team in modern times, the current cars are so complex.

“I know how difficult it is to change teams. I’ve done it a couple of times in the past. So I knew I was going to our team with a fast team-mate, a car I didn’t know, a Ferrari -Team that I have. ” I don’t know that the speed could possibly be difficult or not difficult, but it could take a couple of races to finish.

“But the fact that in Bahrain I pushed at both qualifying and racing pace and was very close to Charles made me a lot more relaxed. And I was able to focus more on the details that are there.” had to put together a weekend. “

Leclerc is the benchmark, and he sets a pretty high standard. He also had a two-year lead on the team.

“Of course against a guy as fast as Charles, who knows the car so well, you never know what you will find when you join the team.

“But since the first race I felt like I was very close and it was a tenth up or down, pretty much like all of my team-mates.

“That made me a little easier that I wanted to keep the pace, and now it’s about perfecting the starts, the first laps, feeling the car in the dirty air, knowing what to do with the car in Q1 Q2, Q2 to Q3 to maximize performance, how to use the tires, how to manage them.

“There are so many complex things. How to take advantage of the strategy with the team and with the communication. As you saw in Hungary, there are still things that need to be fine-tuned before you nail every weekend and are a max weekend driver . “

One issue that Sainz highlighted earlier this year was braking, often an aspect that drivers need time to fully optimize when switching to another team. Ricciardo struggled with that at McLaren this year.

Sainz believed he would get it under control a few races ago, but Spa reminded that there is still a lot to be done.

“It’s there, and the wet probably showed it. I had a couple of races without really thinking about braking. And I felt pretty at home, as you could see in the results before the summer break, I was confident and so forth.”

Carlos Sainz Jr., Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images

“But probably the wet weather at Spa and the lack of feeling when braking have brought me back to a weakness that we still need to address and improve, because that’s one of the areas I think in as a team.” we should keep improving our distance to the top teams. “

Spa was generally disappointing for Ferrari as the poor qualifying pace turned out to be expensive for both drivers. “It’s an investigation that’s going on at the factory because, to be honest, we were all expecting a little more.

“When it started raining, I was excited because I knew I had set the fastest lap at Imola two or three times during the race and it was my first time driving the car in the wet.

“Since then, of course, I knew how the car was going to perform at Spa and it surprised me how little grip I had. I usually love and I’m usually pretty good at it.

“This time it really hurt not being competitive. But it’s something we’re going to look at and we will come back stronger, I’m sure of that.”

Sainz had a known close relationship with teammate Norris at McLaren, and it wasn’t long before he developed one with the easy-going Leclerc.

“It’s not that I attach much importance to it,” says Sainz. “It’s just something very natural for me.

“I’ve always got on well with my teammates and I always go to an F1 weekend to enjoy the weekend and believe that I am an F1 driver, a Ferrari F1 driver, and I am not just that there to take part in competitions, but also to enjoy the atmosphere and to have a good relationship with a guy who is actually a cool guy.

“A guy I got along with well outside of the F1 world. That shouldn’t be a restriction. I respect him as a driver. I respect him as a person.

“And once you have those two things covered, everything comes naturally and I enjoy the F1 weekend more. And I think it’s also positive for the team. But like I said, it’s not that I do it for that Team do. ” It’s just that it’s pretty natural to me. “