Friday, October 25, 2024, 10:30 p.m.
The situation that Carlos Sainz is going through at the end of his last (barring an unlikely future return) season at Ferrari is not at all comfortable. On the one hand, he has known for ten months that the team has set aside him to make room for Lewis Hamilton in 2025, but he has to give his all to give them success. It is not a minor matter: Ferrari is 44 points from the lead, something they can have within reach if Red Bull does not go (as it seems) and McLaren fails (as may happen).
It cannot be deceived: Sainz is not the leader of the team. Neither on his own merits, since he is 60 points behind his teammate, nor on sporting logic: Ferrari has already shown that Leclerc is the driver they trust. For this weekend, at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez they have a golden opportunity to strengthen their fight for the constructors’ championship and, in addition, keep Leclerc’s title hopes alive. It will not be easy for the Monegasque, since rookie Ollie Bearman had a serious accident with his car in the first free practice sessions and seriously affected the SF24. Although the next Haas driver was relatively at fault (Albon, the other one involved in the accident, was already running away when they contacted him), the most affected was Leclerc who saw how his car ended up crashing without him at the wheel.
Sainz does not hide that he is already thinking about his next team, a Williams that seems to have taken a leap in quality with the illustrious Franco Colapinto, determined to be a protagonist outside and inside the Formula 1 cockpit. «I am looking forward to the year that is coming and the challenge with Williams. It is also good to see how much they have improved recently and how that car can now reach the points quite frequently in the last races,” admitted Sainz who, despite this, also conceded that it would make him happier than achieving another victory with Ferrari before. to finish the season. “I will do my best for it,” he promised.
Even so, he knows that Formula 1 does not end this year or next. «If it comes, great, and I will surely celebrate it; and if not, I don’t think it will be my last chance to fight for victories or podiums in Formula 1. I will continue to work hard to try to put myself in a position to win another race, whether with Williams or in the future, because that is what I long, that’s what I think I can do and that’s what I’ve shown I can do at Ferrari,” he promised.
Thus, without seeing the consequences that this incident may have, Sainz is the great alternative for Ferrari this weekend or, at least, one that they should take into account. The volatile nature of the season and especially this end with the doubts of Red Bull and McLaren also benefit Mercedes, as demonstrated by the best final time of the first free practice set by George Russell. What would have been a memorable season if it had started like this is leaving a much more exciting conclusion than expected, something that was not anticipated in the least.
The doubts of the rookies and Antonelli’s mistakes
Formula 1 regulations have required, for a few years, to allow at least one free session a year for the teams’ test drivers. This rule pursues two objectives: for rookies to get experience with a real car and real rivals and for them to add kilometers for the super license. Although the FIA ladder has more holes than a wicker basket, it does allow us to see future idols such as the aforementioned Bearman, Felipe Drugovich in Alonso’s Aston Martin, or Kimi Andrea Antonelli, the great Italian hope on which Mercedes has opted. to replace Hamilton.
The case of the latter is especially strange. They have allowed him to compete in two free practice sessions and he has not lasted more than 10 minutes in either of them. If in Monza it was due to his own accident, this time it was because he destroyed the bottom of the Mercedes and had to abandon again. It is beginning to be worrying to see how he is no longer unable not to shoot competitively, but at least to shoot.
