Carlos Sainz’s well-known father believes his son, who races for Ferrari, sent the strongest message possible to the Maranello squad at last weekend’s Monza Grand Prix.
With questions lingering over whether Sainz, 29, will secure a new contract with Ferrari for 2025 onward, his dad, rallying legend Carlos Sainz Sr., suggested in an interview with a niche publication that Audi could be in the mix.
During Ferrari’s home Grand Prix at Monza, Sainz had an impressive outing, even prompting his highly-esteemed teammate Charles Leclerc to adopt his Spanish co-driver’s car settings.
Sainz was in contention with Max Verstappen for the win and ultimately secured a podium finish after an exciting side-by-side duel with Leclerc.
This was despite team principal Frederic Vasseur directing the two not to take any “risk” during the race’s final moments.
“They made me tremble a bit,” Vasseur confessed later.
“Yes, I told them not to risk too much, but we left the battle open, relying on them acting responsibly.
“I like to let them fight. I’m like that. We are going to keep it until the end of the season that there is no number 1 and number 2.”
Sainz’s father appeared ambivalent about Vasseur’s reasoning.
“Funny that sometimes they can attack and other times they cannot. Sometimes they can fight among themselves and other times they cannot,” he was quoted as saying by the Spanish sports paper Marca.
“They’ll have to clarify that among themselves,” he added.
Spanish F1 analyst Antonio Lobato concurred that Ferrari’s approach to ‘team orders’ often seems to hinge on which driver is leading.
Responding to Vasseur’s post-race remarks about allowing the teammates to duke it out despite cautioning ‘no risk,’ Lobato told DAZN, “Vasseur either has a very bad memory or he has a lot of cheek. It’s one or the other, or both.”
Regarding the message his son relayed to Ferrari through his Monza performance, Sainz Sr. noted, “He sent the type of message that I like.”
Ex-Ferrari engineer Toni Cuquerella echoed the sentiment that Ferrari’s enforcement of team orders seems inconsistent at times.
“I don’t understand it,” he stated. “The order was not to put the podium at risk, but they ended up fighting, risking putting them both in the gravel.
“They came close to a resounding and unnecessary failure.”
When pressed on such criticisms, Vasseur responded: “No, it wasn’t too much of a risk.
“Now is not the time for any polemical discussion. If we freeze the position, everyone complains.
“This time we didn’t do that and it was nice to be able to see a race like that. Of course it’s easy to respond like this when everything turns out well, but I think it was the best way to thank the Tifosi after such strong support from the Tifosi,” he added.
“The idea of risk is always relative, a matter of opinion, but I’m proud that I made that decision and that the drivers did a good job.”
