Carlos Sainz may consider himself the most unfortunate of the current crop of Formula One drivers. Having been recruited as a secret ‘No. 2’ to Ferrari’s chosen Messiah, the Spaniard has performed remarkably well against the Charles Leclerc his team mate who is regularly touted by the F1 media as a future world champion.

In fact Sainz has done better than ‘performing well’ as in the first year of their partnership at the Scuderia in 2021, the former McLaren racing driver outscored his team mate by 5.5 points finishing two places above the Monegasque driver, P5 in the championship.

 

 

 

Sainz v Leclerc stats are close

Charles hit back the following year as a string of issues with the Sainz car cost the Spaniard dearly. Leclerc outscored his fellow driver by 62 points that season, claiming his second, third and fourth Grand Prix victories, yet Sainz had his moment in the sun when he delivered his maiden F1 triumph at the British Grand Prix.

Carlos victory at Silverstone meant he was the 112th driver to stand on the top step of an F1 podium and only the second Spaniard behind Fernando Alonso to win a Formula One Grand Prix. Since that day, it his been the son of a world champion rally driver who has led the way in terms of victories for the Scuderia until Leclerc last time out finally buried the ‘curse of Monaco’ by winning his home race in the principality.

Last year the margin between the two Ferrari drivers was the width of a credit car, and with Sainz’ car being wrecked by a manhole cover destroying his Las Vegas weekend, its likely again he would have conquered his team mate in the year’s final standings where the gap was just six points.

Having been ditched by Ferrari for the ageing Lewis Hamilton for next season, Sainz’ form in the early part of this year has left a number of senior paddock folk questioning whether the big wigs in Maranello have made the right decision. Carlos scored podiums in each of the first three races this year, winning in Australia when the RB20 had an unusual mechanical issue.

Schumacher strongly advises Sainz against…

 

 

 

Red Bull cautious of Spaniard’s history

Its clearly the case the unlucky Carlos Sainz would never had been released by Ferrari unless the huge marketing opportunity that is Hamilton came along. The only other F1 driver Maranello would have favoured over their Spanish matador would be of course Max Verstappen, who has subsequently threatened to leave Red Bull if his demands are not satisfied.

Yet Sainz is now facing a world much further back on the F1 grid, despite Mercedes and Red Bull having available seats for next year. Red Bull have two problems, the first being Checo who has the worst qualifying gap to his team mate this year from the entire grid which includes Logan Sargeant. With the title races much closer this season, the world champion team will be forced to replace the Mexican driver in an attempt to shore up the constructor results as Ferrari and McLaren close in.

Carlos would a the best choice available to replace Perez but the fractious relationship he had with Verstappen during their time at Toro Ross appears to be a cause for some hesitation at present. However a TJ13 source from within the Milton Keynes team has suggested should Verstappen – and particularly his father – continue their troublesome ways, Sainz would be a good option to replace Perez demonstrating the Dutch family does not rule the roost of the world champion F1 team.

If Verstappen were to up sticks and leave, Sainz is the no brainer to replace him from the current stock of F1 drivers out of contract and with significant experience.

Pirelli plan to shake up ‘boring’ races

 

 

 

Vasseur speaks of Carlos “professionalism”

Speaking to Italian F1 media outlet it.motorsport, the Ferrari team boss now reveals Sainz reaction when he was informed Hamilton would replace him next year. “I believe that Carlos’ approach is the same that he had when we presented the car in February,” said Fred Vasseur. “He’s a professional, and his first reaction was: ‘Ok Fred, it’s a difficult decision, but let’s push until the last corner of the last lap of the season’.

“He is a great professional, totally committed to work, and I am convinced that his contribution will be the same until the end of 2024. I am really satisfied with Carlos.”

Senior F1 Italian journalists have questioned the Ferrari decision to replace Sainz with Hamilton and credit the move to John Elkan who is CEO of there Ferrari group and not known for his racing credentials.

There is also a seat at Mercedes for Carlos Sainz, but having missed out on the young Verstappen who was captured by Red Bull, Toto Wolff is determined to pace the latest racing ‘wunderkind’ alongside George Russell in 2026. Kimi Antonelli currently sits sixth in the F2 drivers stable and ahead of his more experienced team mate Oliver Bearman, who deputised for Sainz in his Ferrari F1 car when the Spaniard fell ill with appendicitis in Jeddah.

Mattia Binotto return to F1

 

 

 

Audi wait in the wings

Carlos has offers from the future Audi team and Williams on the table, yet despite the might of the German companies motorsport history, technical director James Key believes the morphed Sauber team will not be competitive until at least 2027.

Of course it will be painful for Sainz Jnr to leave Ferrari as they are experiencing something of a renaissance and particularly if the rumours are true that Adrian newly has now signed a contract to join the team of the prancing horse.

Peter Windsor claims inside knowledge that in fact Carlos Sainz has already agreed a deal to join Williams despite their current lack of points. The team is undergoing huge investment programme to replace the ageing facilities last upgraded some 20 years ago.

Wolff victory over Honer in Verstappen spat

 

 

 

Williams deal signed claims premature

Team boss James Vowels is impressing all in the paddock with his leadership skills and even an audacious bid to recruit Adrian Newey, based on the romance of the F1 design guru’s first time with the team when they employed the likes of Prost and Senna.

So the timing of the announcement is said to be in the run up to the Spanish Grand Prix, now three weeks away. Though TJ13 writers are not so sure that a deal is finally done. Red Bull are in a pickle and require just a few more races to justify ditching Perez.

Further, Max Verstappen’s position will become clear before the summer break and so they will hold out as long as possible before making their future driver decisions which will then topple the line of dominoes for the rest of the F1 pilots who are out of contract.

Mercedes react to SHOCK Antonelli rumours

 

 

 

Hamilton on drugs and losing

Lewis Hamilton had the gut wrenching experience of seeing his record breaking eighth Formula One world title snatched from his grasp with less than a lap remaining of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in 2021. The Mercedes star then went dark, leaving his millions of fans on social media wondering of he would even return for the following season.

Yet like him or not, Hamilton is a competitor and he came back only to discover his all conquering Mercedes team had failed to grasp the new car design rules and no longer could Lewis cruise to victory with ease week in and week out… READ MORE