Carlos Sainz: “It’s difficult, but you have to accept it”

The veteran pilot of Madrid Carlos Sainz He summarized the outcome of the Dakar after this first week and advanced what his plan would be for this second week of the toughest race in the world.

THE ACCIDENT

“The team has been preparing all year to come here to fight (for victory). It’s difficult, but you have to take it that way, you have to take the positive side, be optimistic, and now we have to keep pushing this week this, especially. to learn for the future”

POSITIVE PART OF THE RALLY SO FAR

“The positive side is hard to find (laughs), after the fear that both pilots and co-pilots gave us, the poor Edouard (Boulanger) took the worst part, but Luke (Cross) and I will continue, though Stephane (Peterhansel) My head hurts, but it’s fine. I hope Edouard continues, I think he had surgery today, and I hope everything goes well, I’ll keep that positive side, that everything can get worse”

“For me, the first hard part was breaking the kneecap, which shouldn’t have been broken, and then the blow. The holes, I had one day, like the other, I don’t think I had two of same day, and then the kneecap”

AUDI COMPARED TO LAST YEAR

“Of course it is competitive, but not only because of the feeling, but also because of the telemetry, for following the racing cars, where I clearly say that the weight of our car is noticeable, that it lacks power “

THE GOAL FOR THIS SECOND WEEK

“The goal we have is to try to learn and win stages”

PETERHANSEL’S ACCIDENT AND ITS SUBSEQUENT ACCOUNT

“If you think about it, I was 25 meters behind him, where he was going, it was me. I was lucky that I didn’t lose consciousness, I broke the car and went to him because he turned in a strange way when he passed, and seeing I’m him, he’s unconscious, and Edouard should have stopped the car. He’s hurting, and it’s a difficult situation, a situation you don’t want to happen, so I say I’ll take the first part of the Dakar, because nothing happened, it was very difficult to get to and see poor Edouard in great pain, and I have never met a pilot without knowledge”

HE DOESN’T KNOW IF HE WILL COMPETE IN THE WORLD RALLY-RAID WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP WITH AUDI

“I can’t answer you, I don’t have any, I don’t know Audi’s plans. I don’t know, on my word of honor, there is no plan, nothing has been done, we don’t know what we are. I will do it. I also want (to go to Argentina ) ), but we don’t know what we are going to do. What I know for sure is that it will be good for the team to do more races, because the more races you do, the more you learn, there are little problems that don’t come to another race, the temperature, other conditions, and it is clear that playing all the cards only in Dakar and not in other races, is complicated, above all, and I insist on that because I told the Spanish journalists before the race , that’s what I expressed, again, and maybe this year, more than in the past, we see how difficult it is to make this car running in the desert, it’s something very complicated, we need good professionals in behind it, many engineers, where there are four engines, you have to get everyone on the same page, and it’s a big challenge, and I think even if we’re late, we should support this brand in daring the madness that this, of course, the way to push other brands to bet on sustainability is not to add a hundred kilos more”

HIS FAMILY’S VISIT TO DAKAR

“They are very grateful that they came in the three days that they came in the beginning, the truth is that it is good that in some way they lived what the bivouac is, what the Dakar is, because when you go back home. and After all, no it’s just like when you see it on TV. They also experienced it first hand thanks to GreenScale in the helicopter, seeing what a stage is like from the air, and I think they will understand better all that preparation, all the strange things that they will understand that their father or their husband did”

SAINZ JR, IN DAKAR IN THE FUTURE?

“He likes the Dakar, but now he is obviously focused on Formula 1. The Dakar can wait, but I think he likes it, now that he knows it, he likes it more, and from the questions he asks , I think In the long run I’m sure he’ll try.”

THE ROUTE WAS MORE DIFFICULT IN THE LAST DAYS DUE TO RAIN

“I have to say that this year’s Dakar, despite the result, I really like it, it is a very complete Dakar, a Dakar with a very difficult stage, where we drive for four or five hours, and I want to put that also in perspective. , and there is everything. Now we are going to the dunes, but we are in the rocks, the truth is that they are especially beautiful, and I have to say that until now, the roadbook does not give any problems, it’s as it should be, you have to get to all the places, even if you lose a little time, it’s not playing Russian roulette. long special and a roadbook that has nothing to do with what happened in the last two years”

ANSWERS TO AL-ATTIYAH REGARDING REGULATION

“No comment. There is a physical law that is the weight/power ratio, and a telemetry that the FIA ​​can use, if the FIA ​​finds that our car accelerates less… I already know, I don’t need any telemetry, I have white hair and if I complain, I complain about something, I want equality. In this case, I saw, we did the first three days, and I insist again, the weight/power ratio is not just acceleration, that’s what we look at they now, cars have to stop and bump, and when you weigh a hundred kilos, the brakes are obviously more expensive and your ride is obviously worse. From last year to this year, the gain was one hundred kilos, and not I say that all you journalists from the motor world of the importance that it has, as if in a Formula 1 we are talking about ten kilos, and this is a hundred. So, let’s be serious, you understand what the competition, what about pag everyone plays with the same cards. Last year there was a big campaign where they said that Au did not have a great advantage, and it cannot be based on times, it must be done on telemetry, it seems that now we will check the performance of the cars for the second week this, where Loeb will compete, but Nasser. (Al Attiyah ) you don’t need it. After two days, Nasser didn’t have to race, and you shouldn’t rely on split times to know if a car is running or not, you should do it with telemetry, we have nothing to lose, and he (Al Attiyah) , many”

LOST CAR DEVELOPMENT?

“No, the project is a great project. What will be done in a great way to support it? Sure, but it’s a very complex, great project, a very important challenge, and I think people who don’t understand how this car works, do not understand it. value, I think one who understands a little bit of racing, and I have been in this project from the beginning, to run this car, in these desert situations … The other day I jumped, and the car stopped, why? Because there is a battery, some sensors, the car thinks that you have had a blow, and these are things that make it difficult to operate a car like this , which is not the usual explosion and four bearings, and a box of changes, we are talking about something else, about another kind of race, and I think it should be appreciated, and not just races .The ratio of weight/power is a golden rule in competition, and we must keep it in mind, and I think this golden rule is not (is)”