Carlos Sainz will turn 29 with an unforgettable gift to himself in mind

Monza is a special place for Carlos Sainz. Not only because it is the home circuit for Ferrari, where every year thousands of red fans come together sharing the same passion, no matter what, showing their unconditional love for the ‘Prancing Horse’ team ‘. Most of all, for his memories of this track. At Monza, the Madrid driver grabbed his first victory in an exciting 2020 race, with McLaren. And last year he showed a ferocious speed. He lifted the public out of their seats with great returns, showing his crowd the aggressiveness and determination they often asked of him. In 2023 he started 18th due to an engine change and in just 13 laps he was 4th. He remained at the podium gate, an award that this time, after turning 29 this Friday, he wants to be his most remembered ‘self-gift’ in this F1 Italian GP.

“The podium? Last year I had a podium rhythm all weekend, so this year it’s the same. It’s a circuit I’ve always liked, where I’ve always been fast. You’ve also seen it in the year of McLaren. , so obviously I feel good about Monza. But we’ll have to see how the car does this year here and whether it’s ready to be on the podium or not.” the Spaniard pointed to a previous question from MD in his conversation on Thursday with the Spanish press present at the ‘Temple of Speed’.

gg.didomi.doWhenConsent(!window.didomiBypass, ‘c:twitterwi-wUmBnnKy’, function () {
var x = document.createElement(‘script’);
x.setAttribute(“type”,”text/javascript”);
x.setAttribute(“src”, “//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”);
x.setAttribute(“charset”, “utf-8”);
$(“.twitter-tweet”).closest( “span” ).append(x);
});

The man from Madrid does not dare to make predictions about how his car will perform due to the many and surprising performance changes seen this year in a chase where McLaren, Aston Martin, Mercedes and Ferrari are fighting with great equanimity. Carlos stressed very strongly that in Monza if “that tenth is in your favor, you are in a podium position, and if it falls against you you are not in the Top-10”.

“It’s too hard to make predictions. I hope we go more like Spa or Austria than Zandvoort, hopefully…”, taught He does not want to raise expectations, but the Spaniard already said at Zandvoort that on this track he hopes to have a car like at Spa, very fast on the Italian straights. Everyone in the paddock expects a strong Ferrari against its ‘tifosi’ thanks to its engine power, its top speed on the long straights of the Autodrome and with a very fast lap speed. They might be there in the fight for pole position. And they are favorites for the podium. That was Carlos’ goal to celebrate his 29th birthday in the best possible way.

Carlos has already pointed out that weekends like this are one to remember for a lifetime of racing illusion at the home of Ferrari. “It’s illusion. Pressure, of course there is, especially before qualifying and the race, there is a lot of pressure, but that is at specific moments, before getting in the car. The rest of the weekend is illusion. You enjoy it, You share it with all the ‘ tifosi’, and it is a special opportunity, to be an F1 driver and come to race for Ferrari and do it in Monza is a moment to enjoy and fulfill your dream. And then I’m sure that when I’m 70 I’ll remember those weekends.”. If he gets the podium against the ‘tifosi’ he will remember it for the rest of his life.

This Friday is an important day

At this point, this Friday, with the dispute in the first two free practice sessions of the Italian F1 GP, Carlos Sainz has in front of him an important day, because he will be able to start to check if the expectations placed on his car in this. track they match the truth and truly the SF-23 could allow him to embarrass Max in qualifying and fight for a place in the drawer this Sunday.

“The best time to be a Ferrari driver”

Carlos Sainz reaches the age of 29 with the same illusion as before to pursue his great goal of becoming champion at Ferrari. With all the rumors about his renewal, the Spanish driver has already highlighted to MD in an interview held at the last Hungarian GP that he feels at his best to be able to shine with Ferrari when he has the car for it.

“Honestly, I feel that I am at the perfect moment in my career to become a Ferrari driver, because I want to. It’s an intense place to be, because you have a lot of things to take care of, you have a lot of responsibilities, you’re racing for the Ferrari team, which I think says it all, and you have to really want to this. You have to be 100% dedicated to F1 and the team and I’m at that moment between maturity and youth to take advantage of that moment of being at Ferrari”, Sainz taught MD before summer break. Now 29 years old, he is looking for his first podium of the year to continue to grow from there.