Sainz left emotional after “enjoying the last four years” with Ferrari

Having completed his last race with Formula One’s most successful team, four-time F1 race winner Carlos Sainz has admitted that he was emotional on the grid when he jumped into a Ferrari car for the last time.

Starting from P3 on the grid, Sainz moved up a place after Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri collided at Turn 1. The Spaniard appeared to have the same pace as Norris on the medium tyres, with Ferrari electing to pit Sainz a lap earlier than Norris to attempt an undercut move.

While Sainz managed to reduce the gap to the race leader to under two seconds, the McLaren driver managed to disappear into the distance, displaying a more impressive pace on Pirelli’s hard tyres.

Reflecting on his final outing with Ferrari, Sainz did not want to “lie”, admitting that he was left with mixed emotions after the Scuderia lost out to the Woking-based outfit by a tiny margin.

“Obviously a bit of mixed feelings, I’m not going to lie. I think we all came into this race trying to win the Constructors’ Championship and ultimately we did manage to do it. McLaren have put together a very strong weekend. Lando hasn’t put a foot wrong all race and all weekend. And in the end, congratulations to them because they deserve it.

“On my side, I tried to do everything I could to keep within reach of McLaren. Before the race we knew that McLaren might have one or two tenths of pace on us and that was enough, you know, to pull a bit of a gap before the pit stops or during the race to have a bit of a buffer and not to feel too much pressure.

“I think I had a very strong first stint, managed to keep them within reach and within pressure margins, especially when I was told Charles was coming in a good comeback. Oscar had obviously that incident in lap one, I thought, we might have a bit of a chance, but then little by little it started to fade.

Sainz admitted that McLaren won the race because of its pace advantage of the hard compound, but he explained that he was not surprised by the deficit on the white-walled compound based on the experiences from the previous races.

“When we put on the Hard tyres, like we’ve seen in many cases this year, the McLaren upped the pace a bit, turn up the pace a bit, and they started pulling away two, three tenths per lap, and that was enough for them to have that safety margin and bring it home. And from our side, I think we did everything we could.

“Both Charles and I have given absolutely everything this weekend. It hasn’t been an easy weekend for me, obviously, knowing it was the last one. But I did the best I could to stay focused and to do the maximum that the car could do today, I think.

Asked about how it felt to step out of the SF24 for the final time, the Madrid-born driver admitted that it has been an emotional feeling after four successful years with the Maranello-based squad.

“Strange. A bit emotional, I’m not going to lie. Probably, I would say it was more emotional the last time that I jumped in the car, in the grid. I knew that was obviously going to be my last race with a group of people that I’ve enjoyed these last four years.

“The last time that I would jump in a Ferrari car, probably, and I was just feeling emotional. I tried to remind myself to try and enjoy the race as much as possible and to give the absolute maximum for this team. Jumping out of the car, I already had the bittersweet feeling.

With Ferrari granting Sainz an early release, the Spaniard will complete a filming day with Williams at the Yas Marina Circuit before taking part in the Pirelli post-season tyre test on Tuesday.

Sainz has admitted that while he was feeling emotional on his last laps with Ferrari, he has already switched his focus to Williams, trying to figure out why Ferrari’s SF24 felt quick in certain corners to carry his knowledge over to the Grove-based squad.

“Being very honest with you, I don’t think so. I think, I’m not going to lie, my last laps, as much as I was pushing like hell for this team and trying to, I was already starting to feel things in the car and trying to say, remember how this feels. because tomorrow and Tuesday I need to remember why is this car quick in this corner and why does it feel good?

“Because I know probably what I’m going to find tomorrow and Tuesday needs some margin of improvement in the corners that I was feeling the car. So this just sums up that I’m already looking also ahead.

“I’m extremely motivated for the challenge that I have ahead of me. Today is a day to try and enjoy as much as possible with the team as my last day in red. We still have some days in Maranello coming up, but obviously my competitive mind is already looking forward to Monday and Tuesday and to see how I can make that Williams car faster.”