Carlos Sainz doesn’t believe Ferrari has a reputation for “eating” their drivers as he joins for the 2021 Formula 1 season.
The Spaniard is facing a very different environment as he moves from the friendly atmosphere at McLaren to the bearpit that is the Scuderia, where the eyes of the Tifosi follow their every step.
It’s an expectation that some believe has been too much for the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel over the past decade, but Sainz sees the situation differently.
“Ferrari is not a team that eats and devours its drivers,” he claimed.
“If you see Vettel’s career… what driver wouldn’t have wanted to spend five years at Ferrari as he has?
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“The longest I’ve been in a team is two years, so if Ferrari is a team that devours drivers, what are Renault, Toro Rosso and all the others?
“Alonso also spent five years at Ferrari, that doesn’t seem like a team that devours drivers, but cycles.
“Of course I want to have a cycle at Ferrari and create a similar environment [to McLaren] there.
“I already have experience in creating a works team, and I hope I have a team equal, similar or better than the one I have at McLaren. I’m going to do my best to have it.”
When it was confirmed Sainz would be replacing Vettel from 2021 many saw the decision as team boss Mattia Binotto reverting back to the old approach of a lead driver, in this case, Charles Leclerc, and a No.2, that being Sainz.
But the noises from Ferrari have insisted the pair will start as equals, at least, although Sainz does admit he faces an uphill challenge against the well-embedded Monegasque.
“I think we will get along well. I already had some contact and I do get on with Charles, we’ve been talking already the last few months a bit,” he was quoted by RaceFans.
“He’s a great talent. I think he’s driving at an incredible level right now. He’s performing, for me, one of the best on the grid, so it will be tough to match him, especially at the beginning, without any winter testing and anything.
“The relationship with him, I will try and keep it as professional as possible and then if we obviously get on well outside the track, I’m happy with that.”
Finally, Sainz concluded by speaking highly of his former team, who really helped the 26-year-old breakout after a solid but not spectacular first four years in F1.
“A team like McLaren has allowed me to get the best version of myself as a driver,” he said.
“I am an improved version of what I was at Toro Rosso and Renault. I have improved in races, in starts, in qualifying, but I don’t know where I am better now. It has been a continuous and probably more advanced progression than I thought.
“In McLaren, I have felt more comfortable than in other places, and that stability of a two-year contract has allowed me to improve as a driver and adapt more to the car, get more performance. I’m very happy and very grateful for these two years.”
