Emotional Sainz “really needed” second win of season before leaving Ferrari · RaceFans

Mexican Grand Prix winner Carlos Sainz Jnr says he is thrilled to have taken another victory in his final season for Ferrari this year.

Sainz will leave Ferrari at the end of this season, moving to Williams as Lewis Hamilton replaces him for next year.

After taking a win early in the season in Australia, Sainz converted pole position into victory in Mexico, winning by just under five seconds ahead of Lando Norris. Sainz says his fourth career grand prix win is one that means a lot to him.

“Honestly, I really wanted this one,” Sainz said. “I really needed it also, for myself. I wanted to get it done.

“I’ve been saying for a while I wanted one more win before leaving Ferrari and to do it here in front of this mega crowd, it’s incredible. Now there’s four races left, I want to enjoy them as much as possible and if another one comes, I will go for it.”

Sainz had originally lost the lead at the race start, running off track at the first corner after battling with Max Verstappen and having to give the Red Bull driver the lead. After an early Safety Car, Sainz caught and passed Verstappen to take the lead into turn one with a bold move and was never headed for the rest of the race.

“I didn’t prepare it, to be honest,” he explained. “I was just a bit annoyed at the start and having lost position to him and I thought ‘I need to surprise him one way or another’, because Max is super difficult to pass – he’s proven it many, many times.

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“I was a bit far back, but I said ‘I have nothing to lose, I’m just going to send one down the inside’. I’ve been very confident under braking into turn one this weekend and I knew I could make it.”

The win marked Sainz’s fourth victory of his career and his second of the season. He acknowledged the Mexican fans who warmly received him in parc ferme inside the stadium section after the race.

“It’s incredible to see this crowd,” he said. “I’ve been feeling their support all week. I feel like I have a lot of fans here in Mexico and they gave me a lot of strength to do the weekend that I’ve done.”