Carlos Sainz asserts his awareness, stating he’s “not stupid,” and prepared to acknowledge if he finds himself unfit for this weekend’s Formula 1 Australian GP. The Spanish driver admits he hasn’t fully recovered, still not at peak fitness following his recent appendix removal in Saudi Arabia.
Despite this, he maintains optimism about participating in the race, despite abstaining from training and refraining from using the Maranello simulator since the surgery. Sainz intends to take the SF-24 out for practice on Friday in Melbourne.
He plans adjustments to his belts for added comfort and intends to assess his condition thereafter, with the FIA also slated to monitor his progress. Oliver Bearman, who substituted for him in Jeddah and is Ferrari’s designated reserve for this weekend, remains on standby.
“First of all just by seeing me move and the exercises that I’m doing in the gym and everything this tells me I’m fit to jump in the car tomorrow and try,” said Sainz.
“But obviously, I’m not stupid, and if I don’t feel good tomorrow, I will be the first one to raise my hand and say that I need another two weeks until the next race.
“This together with the FIA is also the plan that we have in place. I have another check with the FIA tomorrow, and they are monitoring my progress.
“And I’m the first one that doesn’t want to be in pain, to suffer, or to make it any worse. So I’m not stupid. And I will be very clear with how I’m feeling and everything.”
Sainz added: “Every day I’m feeling obviously a lot better. Now, every 24 hours that I do, I make a lot of progress.
“It’s true that the first week was tough, a lot of time in bed and recovering. And that’s when you see things a bit darker. But then in the second week, the recovery speeds up a lot. And I started to feel a lot better.
“So yeah, I’m confident that I can jump in the car tomorrow and do well. Obviously, I put together a very strong recovery plan since day one when I landed back home to be ready for this race, and I will jump in the car tomorrow, and see how I feel. But I’m feeling positive about it.”
Despite expressing confidence, Sainz acknowledges that the full extent of his readiness will only be revealed once he hits the Albert Park circuit on Friday for the first time.
“The problem is I don’t know [how my body will cope],” he said. “Until you put yourself in an F1 car and feel the forces, it’s impossible to know.”
“What I know is that today I am a lot better than yesterday, and yesterday I was a lot better than two days ago.
“So also with that progress, I’m quite encouraged and positive. And then see how I feel, as I said.”
