Carlos Sainz remains optimistic about his prospects for the remainder of his final season with Ferrari, expressing his hope to secure more podium finishes and victories. Despite his triumph at the Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard humorously quipped about being “still jobless” for 2025.
The start of 2024 has been eventful for Sainz. Even before the season commenced, he received the news that he would not retain his position at the Scuderia next year due to Lewis Hamilton’s arrival on a multi-year contract.
The 29-year-old driver kicked off the campaign by securing a podium finish at the Bahrain Grand Prix. However, his momentum was interrupted when he had to miss the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix due to appendicitis, which necessitated surgery.
Nevertheless, Sainz bounced back spectacularly by clinching a remarkable victory in Australia. In an interview with Martin Brundle following the race, he acknowledged the significance of the win, particularly in light of the challenges he has faced thus far in 2024.
“You cannot imagine how proud I am [of that race],” Sainz stated. “Especially because you know how tough of a start of a year it’s been [for] me, with the non-renewal at the beginning, [then] putting together a very good pre-season testing and pre-season program from my training, arriving to the first race [and getting a] podium.
“Now you say, ‘okay, I’m ready to fight this year’, [but then there was the] appendix, another low, and then suddenly you come back with uncertainty – am I going to be back or not? Then you come back and win. Life is sometimes really nice, really beautiful.”
When asked if his victory could serve as a strong endorsement of his skills in his quest to secure a seat for 2025, Sainz responded with humor, stating, “Well you know, I’m still jobless for next year, so I guess this does good for me!”
“But, jokes aside, I know that when I’m given a good car I can get it done. [I] proved it in Singapore, proved it here – when I’m confident and it’s a good car I’m happy, and [I was] just very happy with the car today.”
Following Ferrari’s challenging start to the 2023 season, Sainz expresses pride in the progress the team has made. He looks forward to maximizing success with them before embarking on a new challenge next year.
“It is a more structured team,” Sainz commented. “We’ve done so much progress with the performance of the car, but also with race execution, weekend execution – it’s a much more solid team than where we were one, two years ago, so I’m proud of that progress.
“I’m going to maximize this more solid team that we’ve created together during this year to try to put together some more podiums and wins, and see where I’m going next.”
