Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc see driving for Ferrari as a sense of responsibility and not a pressure amid several criticism.
Ever since the last title win by Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari has been reeling and losing out to the likes of Brawn GP, Red Bull and Mercedes in the championship fight. The pressure has been consistent despite having title-winning drivers in their ranks.
They have had the likes of Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel driving for them in this period but none of them have managed to take them to the F1 title success unlike Michael Schumacher, who managed to take them back to title glory.
The pressure and expectations keeps on mounting for whoever drives for Ferrari and it is same for Sainz and Leclerc too. They have had some disasters in the current patch but have managed to fight back even though it hasn’t resulted in championships.
“I wouldn’t call it pressure, I would call it a sense of responsibility and a sense of wanting to give the crowd and Italy, the best possible version of yourself, both off the track and on the track with your performance,” said Sainz. “Honestly I cannot be enjoying Monza more than I’ve been enjoying it from the beginning and it’s been like that for the last three years, since I’m a Ferrari driver.
“I just cannot remember or cannot think about a better feeling than being a Ferrari driver especially in Monza. And it’s a dream come true, something that I’m sure I will remember for the rest of my life, to be going through these years of experience, feeling this, something that I consider myself extremely lucky to do. And yeah, it’s responsibility more than pressure,” summed up Sainz.
His teammate Leclerc had similar thoughts to share. “Unfair or fair, at the end we are Ferrari so of course there’s a lot of noise around the team and we need to deal with it,” he said. “None of us are happy in the team of the performance we are showing at the moment, apart from the last race, of course, where we are quite proud and happy.
“But the rest of the season for now has been very difficult. And we are also aware so it’s normal that people are talking a lot about Ferrari, because Ferrari is Ferrari and because of all the history they have in the sport and now it’s our duty to make everything in order to come back at the top.
“Then for the pressure; me personally I don’t feel more pressure coming here. It’s just motivation. You can really feel how much it means to the whole country, the Italian GP, and how much Ferrari means to them. So it is very special. You can feel the responsibility, but at the end it’s a lot more motivation than pressure,” summed up Leclerc.
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