This was the movement of Sainz in which he won the whole of Italy

He F1 Italian GP You can mark before and after for Carlos Sainz at Ferrari. During his more than two years as a Ferrari driver, in Italy he was asked more than Charles Leclerc who, as a driver from the Ferrari quarry and who took over the leadership of the team from Vettel, was able to build around his an aura of a champion captivated everyone. Inside the Ferrari, former boss Mattia Binotto and current Team Principal Fréderic Vasseur were chosen without a clear leader and maintain parity between its two pilots. However, last year, the environment could not say the same. Charles was praised everywhere he went, like a true rock star. Sainz, too, but not as much. But from one year to the next, the change that took place from Monza 2022 to Monza 2023 became clear this weekend. And that was confirmed in the race. Yes, Leclerc is still a true idol. But now everyone knows that Carlos can be a leader. People support him very strongly. He gained the confidence of the transalpines with great improvement behind the wheel of his Ferrari. And he showed it perfectly at the home GP, in front of all the Ferrari fans who filled the stands in red, he couldn’t take the pressure and he fought with everything.

As one Italian journalist said, “Carlos Sainz had a top driver weekend.” He doesn’t have the car to prove it in all the races consistently, but this year no one can say that Leclerc is performing better than the Spaniard. The qualifying match is close (7-6 for Charles), but Sainz leads the drivers’ standings (5th with 117 points, 6 more than Leclerc) and has been more comfortable for many weekends him from the beginning. I started with a car that was hard to drive and sometimes unpredictable.

This was the case at Monza, where he was faster than Charles all weekend and confirmed it without scowling in Q3 with a very good pole position. He continued to convince the ‘tifosi’ that he still does not see clearly in the race. And that is precisely the forte of the man from Madrid.

Carlos won it all with two decisions: leading and defending himself in everything from Max Verstappen despite knowing that it could cost him the podium. And defending himself with fewer tires from his teammate Leclerc at the end of the race.

an important step

Apart from the good defensive actions he took against Verstappen, There was one maneuver that stood out against Charles Leclerc and it says a lot about the step forward Carlos Sainz has taken this year with Ferrari. It happened late in the race.

Charles was completely blinded by the podium, he wanted to keep it away from his partner. The Monegasque has better tires because Sainz was hurt in that sense in his battles with Max (he had to advance his stop for this) and his subsequent battle with Pérez. With no tires, Carlos played blocking with very late braking to force Leclerc to have to brake late if he wanted to pass him. In one of them, when Charles seemed to pass him, he slipped on the outside of turn 1. This allowed Sainz to slowly prepare his response with a different line that allowed him to come inside turn 3, something basic.

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);
});

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);
});

In his previous fight with Max, the Dutchman took him on the inside of turn 3 and that’s where he ended his overtaking, as he arrived in a better position to pass on the inside of turn 4. Carlos remembered him, preparing of all to catch him inside 3. There, both pressed full on the curve. Carlos went parallel and took the risk of braking in 4. Charles reached over to touch Carlos’ right rear wheel with his front wing. Fortunately for the ferraristas, a disaster that would have been remembered throughout history did not happen. Sainz regained the position.

This maneuver confirmed what Carlos had already shown in the first 15 laps. Talk about ambition, desire, talent, maturity. He speaks of a pilot who goes for everything and does not wrinkle. Carlos made a big step from one year to the next and the ‘tifosi’ recognized him. Sainz sent a message to everyone on the track that could dramatically change the way they view him in Italy. He is now a leader.