Carlos Sainz’s 2022 season a nightmare, says Spanish driver
Carlos Sainz has reached a milestone this season with his first pole position and first Grand Prix win. However, the Spanish driver has had to deal with a lot of retirements and run-offs, and sums up his season as a real nightmare.
The Spanish driver is struggling this season despite having a high-performing car. Carlos Sainz had difficulties in qualifying during the first races and was significantly behind his teammate. He has now turned things around and is fighting at the front when his car allows him to.
“It’s instinctive. I no longer think about my driving. And we can see that the lap times come much more easily. I am back to a level where I should have been at the beginning of the year,” he declares on Motorsport’s microphone.
However, since the second half of the season, Ferrari has been struggling and struggling to be in the fight for victory. This is evidenced by the numerous strategic errors that complicate the races for the Italian team’s drivers. Reliability issues, collisions, and driving errors have also played a decisive role for Carlos Sainz. He has retired 6 times in 2022 and is the regular driver who has completed the fewest laps on track.
Now that I am at this level, our car is not necessarily as good anymore. This season has been a nightmare, to be honest, because of all that: all the retirements, I was slow when the car was fast, and now I am fast but we are not as much as before. Nothing is going well!
However, the Spanish driver is confident after his pole position achieved in Austin and continues to work with his engineers to find performance.
The season didn’t go well, but the positive side is that I keep my spirits up, even during a horrible season, a season that couldn’t be more challenging. With my engineers, I continue to fight, to look for time on the track in this car. I think it could have been very easy to give up and let this year go down the drain, but I believe that the pole in Austin and the speed here in Mexico are promising for us.
Carlos Sainz has learned lessons from this 2022 season and is already focused on 2023. A season where he hopes to be able to fight at the front.
« We will have another chance: new year, new car, new rules with the floor. I am convinced that the team will build another excellent car, like the one we have this year, and that we will learn from our mistakes. I will learn from the mistakes I made this year, and we will be even more in the fight and ready to battle. I am also excited for Mercedes, it looks like they are going to join us at the front. »
