Aus GP winner Sainz reveals pre-race fears

Carlos Sainz produced one of the most special Australian Grand Prix wins on Sunday by going from the operating table to victory lane, but he feared he may have struggled to reach the finish or compete in the race at all.

Sainz had missed the previous race at Saudi Arabia due to appendicitis and required surgery, just a fortnight prior to his second Ferrari win at Albert Park.

But it meant the Spaniard only had a week to recover before the long flight to Australia and he admitted that before boarding the plane he feared racing again “wasn’t going to happen.”

“Nine days ago, when I was about to catch the flight to come to Australia, I was still in bed,” Sainz recalled. 

“I could barely use my abdominal to move and I was like ‘this is not going to happen’ but I took the flight.

“Suddenly when I landed in Australia, the feeling was a lot better and every 24 hours, I was making a lot more progress than the first seven days, which is actually what all the doctors and all the professional people told me and even Alex Albon.

“It just followed more or less what everyone told me and put together a good plan.

“I started going to hyperbaric chambers twice a day for one hour, taking an Indiba machine, that is electromagnetic thing for the wounds. 

“I was programming my time in bed, my time to go for a walk, my time to eat, the kind of food that you have to recover. 

“Just everything is centered around recovery to try to be ready for Australia.”

Despite the tough build up, Sainz showed now rustiness or pain on board the SF-24, qualifying second only to Max Verstappen.

Although Verstappen led away from turn 1, the Red Bull driver’s pursuit of a record-equalling 10th straight win would not occur due to a brake failure.

This sent Sainz into the lead and he was never challenged, stitching together a peerless drive to a 2.3s win over Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc.

Despite the #55 looking serene from the outside, Sainz revealed he had doubts about overcoming the “unknown” of the second half of the 58-lap race.

“How nervous I was? I was confident about the first half of the race that I was going to be OK because it’s more or less the laps that I did on Friday,” he said. 

“Obviously, the second half of the race was a bit of an unknown but yeah, once I got up in front and I had a gap, you can manage everything. 

“You can manage yourself, you can manage the tyres, you have less pressure. You can choose your places where to push and not to push you know, and everything becomes a lot easier. 

“I’m not going to lie, the last five or 10 laps I was a bit stiff and tired but nothing that was slowing me down too much.”

It is the triumph of persistence given Sainz has already experienced a roller-coaster of emotions in 2024.

The year started with the tough news he was going to lose the dream Ferrari seat to seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Spaniard appeared to have bounced back from the disappointment by scoring an impressive podium in the season-opener at Bahrain only for the Saudi Arabia setback.

Sainz is now just soaking up the success having already been through so many ups and downs within three months.

“I think it’s not only the last two weeks but the whole start to the year in general,” Sainz said.

“How the year started with the news of the non-renewal and then you get yourself fit and ready for the start of the season, pushing flat out.

“Then you get to Bahrain and do a good podium thinking ‘OK, now the season is starting well and I can keep the momentum going’. 

“Then suddenly, boom, you are missing a race in Jeddah and the operation. Long days in bed, not knowing if I was going to be back in time. 

“There were obviously a lot of unknowns. ‘Am I going to be back fit? Am I going to be back feeling good with the car? And then suddenly you come back and win. 

“So, yes, what I said on the radio – life is a roller coaster sometimes, but it can be really nice and good to you sometimes. Just letting it sink in and enjoying the moment.”

Image: Peter Norton EPIC Sports Photography

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