F1 | Sainz: “Ferrari and McLaren, like Real Madrid and Barça, are the best teams in history”

Carlos Sainz is now focused on the new adventure that will see him as a protagonist starting from the new season with Ferrari. The Spaniard, who at the end of 2020 said goodbye to McLaren where he achieved great results, finishing in sixth place in the Drivers' Championship twice in a row, can't wait to start this new challenge which will see him take to the track with the most successful team. iconic and winning in the history of Formula One.

In recent weeks Sainz visited Maranello to begin to familiarize himself with the new reality and for the first approaches with the technical staff. The new standard bearer of the Cavallino should test the Rossa at the end of the month in a private test organized in Fiorano, where, however, due to the regulations he will only be able to drive the SF71-H (2018 single-seater), while to test the SF21 he will have to wait for the winter tests which will be held at the beginning of March.

"With all my respect and admiration for McLaren, which is the second best team in history, when Ferrari knocks on the door there is no doubt”, said Sainz, interviewed by the Spanish newspaper AS. Carlos then, analyzing Ferrari and McLaren with a football comparison, added: "Ferrari like Real Madrid? That's one way of putting it… but McLaren is Barça, which is also a great team to be part of. It cannot be compared, because also both are under restructuring to try to dethrone Mercedes in the future. But they are the two best teams in history and when you switch from one to the other it means you are doing something right in Formula 1".

Sainz is not afraid of failing at Ferrari. Even if the drivers who preceded him, Alonso and Vettel, did not win the title, they still fought for important goals: "They left with few victories and podiums. I only have two podiums. Do they leave without a World Cup? Yes. But the same has happened to nineteen drivers, every season for the last ten, when Red Bull or Mercedes dominated. There are nineteen drivers a year who have failed, but I don't include those who raced for Ferrari. Nobody leaves Ferrari stranded".

What could Sainz's contribution be to the Ferrari cause? A question to which the Spaniard responded like this: “Once inside I have to analyze the situation and then contribute my knowledge and my way of doing things. A team is made up of a thousand people and the driver can only bring talent, speed and a direction in which the team's development must go. But whether the car is fast doesn't just depend on who drives it".

Then speaking about the SF21 he said: “To the media Mattia (Binotto, ed.) he has been very open about how he sees the team with realistic and not too optimistic goals. What you were able to write in the newspapers and what Mattia said is, more or less, what he said to me. He told me in more detail, but nothing more".