Carlos Sainz wins the 2024 Components 1 Mexico Metropolis Grand Prix, and at this level, Ferrari is as soon as once more preventing for one thing important. After years of seasons with lackluster endings, the Maranello staff is competing for the Constructors’ Championship for the primary time within the turbo-hybrid period, with solely 4 races remaining within the season. A state of affairs that was exhausting to foretell just a few months in the past, even for the incurable optimists. The engineers of the Prancing Horse managed to get the SF-24 again on monitor by way of growth after dropping confidence as a result of aerodynamic updates launched on the Circuit de Catalunya within the Spanish Grand Prix.
A ground design that fully derailed the technical plan for the championship, throwing away no less than three months of the present Components 1 season. For the reason that Italian Grand Prix on the Monza circuit, the Ferrari SF-24 vehicles have virtually all the time fought for victory with each drivers, on circuits with fully completely different traits. This second consecutive victory in a busy triple-header allowed them to surpass the “derelict” Crimson Bull, which has been in free fall since Could, and it concurrently gave Ferrari the prospect to significantly purpose on the standings devoted to the F1 constructors.
Though Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz haven’t any probability of competing for the drivers’ championship crown, as they’re too many factors behind the Dutchman Max Verstappen, they’re delivering actually distinctive performances. Above even the rosiest expectations. Carlos Sainz was craving one final spotlight behind the wheel of the SF-24, and because of an impeccable Mexican weekend from the primary session onward, he managed for the primary time in his profession to win a couple of Grand Prix in the identical season. With urge for food rising as one eats, the Spaniard may win different races earlier than bidding farewell to the historic Maranello staff, fueling his want to enter Ferrari’s historical past.
The Spanish driver is conscious that, barring extraordinary surprises, the close to future is not going to supply him the prospect to battle for victory. Alternatively, the present worth of Williams shouldn’t be a lot in the intervening time, and it’s unlikely to enhance to such an extent that it might permit a return to the highest. That is an additional motivation for Carlos Sainz to counterpoint his file and to enter Ferrari’s historical past. Sure, as a result of successful the Constructors’ title with the Italian aspect would permit the Spaniard to go away an necessary mark on his work.
It could not be a private title to point out off however a big legacy after 4 years of exhausting work within the crimson staff’s courtroom. A form of tangible proof that the Maranello lineup may very well be thought-about the perfect on the grid, able to maximizing weekend race outcomes regardless of the the numerous ups and downs which were encountered in the course of the season. Frankly, the Spanish driver felt the blow. Being immediately relieved of his duties was a completely sudden state of affairs. And exactly due to this, it hurts much more. And it couldn’t be completely different.
When the dream of Ferrari president John Elkann, and that of tens of millions of followers, to deliver Lewis Hamilton to Italy got here true, there was not room for the Spaniard. However Carlos Sainz confirmed what resilience actually means. He absorbed the blow, rolled up his sleeves, and by no means disparaged the Maranello staff that had fed him, despite the fact that he was basically proven the door when a renewal appeared the most certainly state of affairs. Certainly, the son of the two-time World Rally champion has grown in each respect in comparison with the younger man who joined Ferrari in 2021.
He has discovered to win, to be quicker in qualifying, with probably the greatest within the discipline for single-lap efficiency on the opposite aspect of the storage. Regardless of the pure rivalry with Charles Leclerc, their collaboration has been a useful asset for the Prancing Horse. Though the anticipation of Lewis Hamilton’s arrival in crimson is feverish, there’s a subliminal sense that, ultimately, Carlos Sainz may genuinely have been able to assembly the Italian staff’s ambitions within the coming years. It is a sentiment shared by a good portion of the fan base.
Fact be advised, a sensational return of Carlos Sainz can’t be dominated out.
On the finish of the yr, Ferrari and Carlos Sainz will subsequently half methods virtually reluctantly, as each events have been happy with the skilled collaboration. On a couple of event, there was speak of a potential return to Maranello when Lewis Hamilton decides to hold up his helmet, a state of affairs removed from unlikely. The final World Champion for the crimson staff, Kimi Raikkonen, who gained the drivers’ title within the 2007 Components 1 season, returned to the Italian automobile for beginning with the 2014 championship, resulting in a second sporting life that lasted one other 5 seasons.
Furthermore, each Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso are demonstrating that, with the required bodily preparation and enough coaching, it’s potential to be extremely aggressive even previous the age of 40 in immediately’s Components 1. This yr Carlos Sainz turned 30, and, age-wise, he can nonetheless race at excessive ranges for a lot of extra seasons. Within the meantime, he can solely look to shut his present journey at Ferrari in one of the best ways potential, aiming to help the Constructors’ Championship battle, a state of affairs that might bind Carlos Sainz to Ferrari by a fair stronger widespread thread than is already the case.
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