Carlos Sainz relays the emotional F1 win in Mexico GP that he wanted before ending terms with Ferrari, as he adds on passing Max Verstappen and maintaining pace.
All-weekend long in F1 Mexico GP, Ferrari’s Sainz had been on pace against his rivals. He took pole on Saturday after two solid laps in Q3. But his start on Sunday wasn’t good enough and he had to give up against Red Bull’s Verstappen.
Post the safety car period, the Spaniard hustled the Dutchman then. And out of nowhere, he surprised Verstappen at Turn 1 taking the inside line from long way back to retake the F1 Mexico GP lead. Once in the lead position, there was no looking back, especially after the Dutchman got into a fight against McLaren’s Lando Norris.
This allowed Leclerc through in a Ferrari 1-2. The Monegasque tried to push Sainz, but soon dropped off, allowing him to create a 10s margin until the pit stop round. He wanted to slow down the pace and requested Ferrari the same, but was made aware about Norris’ pace, who managed to clear Leclerc towards the end.
The Brit started to close in on Sainz as well, but there was enough margin in the end for the Ferrari driver to win. The Spaniard admitted to shedding a tear on the podium as he desperately wanted another F1 win with Ferrari before he end terms with the Italian outfit.
Fortunately, he had his family and friends in the Ferrari garage to witness the win, especially his mother who hasn’t seen him do it live. He got equal praise from team boss Frederic Vasseur, who stated that Sainz was clever in letting Verstappen through initially, so that he can come back at him to retake the position.
Win, emotions with it –
Sainz: “Yeah, really special. I felt like this weekend was going to be a very good opportunity to win that race. And yeah, I had a very good feeling coming into the weekend. Also, obviously very determined to win it. I knew coming into it that we might have a chance to win. And I’ve been focused, been on it all weekend. On top of that, I knew my family was coming and my best friends, my girlfriend, a lot of people were here to support me. And I said maybe destiny has something ready for me this weekend, that my maybe last win with Ferrari can come in front of them with all the support that I had from them all this year and in a great podium, a great place like Mexico City. I’ve been driving well and I made it stick and you cannot imagine how happy and proud I am right now.
“It was extremely emotional. I did shed a tear, you know, in the Spanish anthem. Yeah, for sure it’s one of the best moments in my career. My mum had never been present on a race win with me, and the fact that she was coming here this weekend, I wanted really to win a race in front of her. And yeah, on top of that, the way the whole weekend planned out, it was just perfect. And, you know, with that move… Losing at the start and then having to fight back with Max just made everything a bit more tricky. Probably makes it taste even better because I had to work hard for it. And to do this weekend in front of all of them was incredible.”
Race start, fight against Verstapen –
Sainz: “Yeah, I didn’t get a good start, but at the same time, I think Max, tends to start very well. Max and Red Bull on low-grip tracks and here is very low grip. And whenever there’s low grip, the Red Bull tends to start really well. So I was kind of prepared also for a scenario where Max was going to go alongside me into Turn 1, I braked as late as I can break, and he brakes as late as me, and I had no space to go into Turn 2. And from then on, I didn’t lose my head, and I knew that every half opportunity that I got to the lead back, I would try and do it. And yeah, with Max, you need to be determined, you need to be decisive. If you’re not, you’re never going to pass him. And in that case, I think I caught him a bit by surprise and I could make it stick. Yeah, high tension at that point also because then that initiated a fight behind me that nearly got me involved also from what I heard.
“So, yeah, it was an exciting moment of the race. As I said, probably catching him a bit by surprise because I was quite far back but before Turn 1 I got a really good tow on DRS, but I saw that I was probably going to be a bit too far back. But then right in the last 100 metres, I felt like I had a good momentum and I’ve been feeling very confident braking into Turn 1 this weekend. The car has been giving me good confidence to brake late there and I just went for it and it happened. Yeah, also this mentality of knowing I had a bit less to lose in that battle and that I could be aggressive and send one. And yeah, I’m glad it happened because I needed to get back to P1 to then set my pace from there.”
Vasseur: “What was very clever from Carlos was same like last week – I think with Russell – is that when you are in the fight, you are overtaking someone and you are not sure to give back the position, and two times he was able to come back the lap after and to do the move again. I think it was a very clever move because you can fight three or four corners in a row, first you lose two seconds and at the end you will get the penalty or not but you are really on the edge. I think he was very self confident, that means that you have a good position, he was convinced that he will be able to do it next time.”
Isolated misfire –
Sainz: “Isolated, completely, yeah. The only misfire I had all race was at the exit of Turn 3. Landing after the curb, I did a little short shift and it gave me a misfire, which was a bit scary, but we’ve had them during the weekend and we know it’s due to the altitude and the mapping. But once I was in the lead, I was trusting my pace, my management, and I knew this weekend I’ve been very quick and I knew I just had to do whatever I had planned and the win was possible. Towards the end, McLaren and Lando proved that they are still fast and they’re still very quick and very difficult to beat, but I’m glad that we got fastest lap with Charles and a lot of points for the championship.”
Asked to slow down –
Sainz: “I felt like it. And that’s why at the time in the heat of the battle and the moment, I obviously opened the radio to give my opinion about the situation. And I felt like potentially, especially after being 1-2, which was a dream scenario, and exactly where we wanted to be after Turn 1. It happened a bit later, but in the end it happened. I felt like, yeah, the ideal was to obviously make it to the target lap and obviously keep our tyres alive. So I gave that opinion in the heat of the battle, but honestly, I also understand why Charles obviously was there behind and trying to speed me up, because that’s what you do when you’re P2 and when you also want to win, so yeah. Racing situations, heat of the battles, heat of the moment, but nothing that has never happened before, also from my side, so I completely get it.”
Vasseur: “I think that Carlos at one stage asked us to slow down the pace but we were not able because behind Charles is Norris is there. We are not able to do it and he understood quickly the situation when we told him the delta.”
Strange season, how fruitful to get the win –
Sainz: “Yeah, it’s been a strange year in that sense, and yeah, also quite a challenging one. The year started really well, then we went through a tough period of development, and then suddenly we managed to make the car competitive again, and I saw that winning chances were still again [available], but obviously Charles took those wins in Monza and Austin, and I felt like, yeah, I also won before I leave, and I want to make that happen. I think it could have been quite easy for me to lose a bit of motivation and to lose a bit of the drive to make it happen, but those three weeks of break served me well. I managed to regain a bit of the determination and the drive that I needed for these last five, six races of the season.
“And I managed to put myself in a position with improving my driving, my confidence with the car, to put myself in a position to, first, win in Austin that I didn’t make it happen – Charles did a great job there – and put myself in a position to win here and this one I was just going to make sure it doesn’t slip from my hands. but yeah not an easy one not an easy year but proud of the way that I’ve managed to keep myself in it and obviously trying to help the team now as much as I can to to win these constructors because it would be the perfect goodbye for me.”
Vasseur: “Carlos did a very good job since the beginning, he was also in clean air all the race, and it easier to manage in this situation. I don’t want to make any comparisons but it was a very strong weekend from the beginning from FP1, he was there. In FP2, he was very strong in the long stint and one lap pace. In the race, he did a very good job, he looked like he was really under control. He was very clever to give up the position in Lap 1, and it also prove that he very self-confident in this situation because when you are fighting with Max, to give up and say that I’ll do it next time, is good.”
Here’s Carlos Sainz fighting back against Max Verstappen: https://www.formula1.com/en/video/2024-mexico-city-grand-prix-sainz-grabs-back-the-lead-from-verstappen.1814100744429542193
Here’s how F1 Mexico GP panned out
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