Following an impressive qualifying round, Scuderia Ferrari displayed a similar performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, right before falling short to Red Bull, yet again. Ferrari’s impressive run at the Bahrain International circuit resulted in Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc crossing the chequered flag with a 3-4 finish.
However, Carlos Sainz put forth the highlight reel of the Bahrain GP, with his ‘piping-hot’ duel with partner Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz’s performance in Bahrain GP 2024
After securing the 4th spot at the qualifying rounds, Carlos Sainz hit the gas on his ‘performance pedals’ at the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is crystal-clear in his post-race result: the Spaniard secured a podium finish (P3) for the Italian Giants with a total race time of 1:32:9.852 hrs.
In the official post-race interview of the Bahrain GP, Carlos Sainz summarized his performance at the Bahrain International Circuit, while answering to the reporters present.
During the media session, one reported asked him: “After one year being quite defensive, how does it feel to be that aggressive again to show the people and the team bosses that you’re still a very aggressive driver that can perform that kind of overtakes?”
“I love going racing, and I love going overtaking, being aggressive, attacking,” Sainz answered with this one-liner.
Reflecting on his struggles last season, he added by saying, “With last year’s car, it was simply impossible to do that. As soon as we were in dirty air, as soon as we overheated the tires, as soon as we pushed a bit too much, it was game over.”
Hoping to outperform his F1 rivals with the Ferrari SF-24, he added, “This year to come to the most rear-limited track of the season, the highest degradation, and do an overtaking. attacking race for me is a relief and it gives me a feeling that we will be able to do this more often this year.”
Prior to this, Sainz opened up on Ferrari’s braking issues during the race, saying, “The first stint and the beginning of the second stint, whenever we were in traffic, we were having a lot of brake vibrations and the pedal at one point started to go long. So, it was always a balancing act between, do I go for it and try to get rid of the dirty air and overtake people, or do I start saving my brakes because they’re going to fail or something’s going to happen?”
Reflecting on his reactions to the braking issues, he further added, “I started saving by moving a bit on the straight to cool the side that it was getting hotter, and the vibration started to get better. And then I could start to make moves and move forward.”
“But as I said, the start wasn’t great. The brakes were still a bit of a limitation for a bit. And then once everything settled, I could do my pace, do my overtakes and go for the podium,” Sainz concluded.
Carlos Sainz also received the ‘Driver of the Day’ award due to his impressive performance, and his entertaining actions while having ‘close-call’ encounters with partner Charles Leclerc.
Carlos Sainz sheds light on close encounter with Charles Leclerc
In the season-opening Bahrain GP, Carlos Sainz put forth the most electrifying moments of the race, when he overtook his Ferrari teammate, Charles Leclerc, twice to secure the pole position. During the post-race interview, Carlos Sainz also opened up on his ‘action-packed’ hot duels with his partner, when asked about it.
“It never felt close inside the car. Whenever I do an overtake on my team-mate I will always try and leave as much margin as possible, and I try, and do it whenever I feel like I’m fully under control and I’m not putting any car at risk. And that’s exactly what I did,” Sainz said.
Emphasizing on his caution while overtaking Leclerc, he concluded by saying, “lt felt like a very good move. And yeah, always keeping an eye on Charles and not making him also lose time or anything like that.”
Carlos Sainz will again get a chance at aggressive racing with Charles Leclerc on March 9th at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Can Carlos Sainz continue this aggressive driving throughout the season? Will Sainz keep Leclerc under control at the Saudia Arabian Grand Prix? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
