Carlos Sainz Jr. embodies a bit of his hero Fernando Alonso in the way he races and competes with his on-track adversaries. He won’t give up without a fight. He won’t relent.
We saw that nearly a month ago when during the slow corners, the relatively quicker Haas of Romain Grosjean and Kevin Magnussen found in Carlos Sainz Jr., a much stronger and capable adversary.
Eventually, he would finish way ahead of both Haas cars and would even leave the rest of the promising midfield behind in clinching his best finish of the year: a competitive P6.
A touch of consistency, of late
Of late, Carlos Sainz Jr. has been in some serious form. His rise from being a relatively banal midfielder into a promising, consistent fighter who finishes comfortably inside the top ten (on the grid) has been somewhat deflected by the many inspiring performances at the further front of the grid.
In the Austrian Grand Prix, a race held immediately after the contest at Les Castellet, the Spaniard finished ahead of the two Alfa Romeos of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovniazzni. In a race, no stranger to a sparkling contest at the very front- Leclerc involved in a do or die tussle with Max- made more headlines than what Sainz’s decent finish would’ve made back home in Spain. Moreover, the first sign of the measurable success of Giovinazzi- the young Italian garnering his very first points in F1- generated the buzz around the midfield.
But that’s not all. It could be said that Carlos Sainz Jr.’s recent consistent run of finishes deserve more credit than they are getting, the Renault alliance of McLaren helping the team just as much as the young Spaniard’s resolve.
A P6 at Silverstone and a P5 at Hockenheimring have seen two very handy races from the young 24-year-old driver with a bright future ahead of him. In the rain-marred Grand Prix of Germany, Sainz competed firmly with a lot of belief and focus, despite struggling for grip.
And above anything else, Sainz has consistently outperformed Lando Norris, the young and exuberant newcomer at McLaren.
But guess what? Carlos Sainz Jr. isn’t too happy with his results.
Present amid a bevy of talents in the press conference at the iconic Hungaroring, Carlos Sainz Jr., someone whose efforts are instrumental in McLaren the best among the rest happened to share the following:
“I find it incredibly annoying going to every race to finish seventh or even fifth,” he says. “I think everyone outside of the top six drivers finds it incredibly annoying. Some will say it, some won’t but everyone that’s in F1 at the moment has won in other categories.”
That’s not all. He would go on to further add, “Then you are here and you spend five years or even longer without really having even a taste of a victory. It shows the sport needs to adapt and change to make it more diverse.”
Above anything else, both Norris and Sainz are of the opinion that much of McLaren’s 2019 progress, with 11 races done, is down to others making mistakes.
For instance, at Hockenheim, Sainz was a beneficiary when Raikkonen spun around during the closing stages and lost control. The Finn was competing strongly for a spot among the top six. What the Spanish driver did from that point was true, commendable for it showed his ability to hold on to a spot.
The finish upon the completion of the 64 laps would yield Sainz’s best McLaren finish as on date: a sturdy P5. He was only six-tenths of a second behind Lance Stroll.
With 10 races ahead, McLaren’s Spanish bloke would be gunning for even better performance. Who knows, a breakaway drive taking him among the top four could well be on the cards, right?