Carlos Sainz has been warned of the expectations he will face at Ferrari from next season.
As uncertainty grew over the future of Sebastian Vettel, it emerged the Scuderia had identified the Spaniard late last year to be his replacement, with a final deal done after the German’s exit was announced.
Opinions are mixed over how competitive Sainz will be up against Charles Leclerc, who is establishing himself as the lead man at Ferrari.
But Carlos offered his own view on what the Italian team can expect.
“They are going to find an extremely hard-working guy that will go to Italy and will spend a lot of time in Maranello in the same way I spent a lot of time at McLaren,” he told Formula1.com.
“And I will try to build something special with Ferrari, the way I tried to build something special in McLaren. Apart from that, hopefully a very quick driver and an incredibly motivated guy that is going to give it all for the Scuderia.”
Whereas Sainz was able to exceed even the biggest expectations set for him at Woking last year, however, double world champion Mika Hakkinen warns that will be the minimum requirement in red.
“Knowing Carlos, he is a great guy, but Ferrari is a different team to McLaren. McLaren is pretty friendly, they are a nice team, you feel comfortable there,” he said via Unibet.
“Now when he goes to Ferrari, it’s different. Now he has to show his full talent and potential otherwise it is going to be terrible for him. It will be so hard for everybody.
“When he enters he has to be mega professional in every aspect. Nobody is going to clean his mess. You have to be responsible for yourself. That is going to be hard because, in a team like Ferrari, you don’t go there to learn, you have to be absolutely flat out.
“I don’t just mean his lap time and speed at the track, but outside and between and understand the whole concept.”
The Finn also noted the demands from the Italian media, something he believes impacted Vettel during his time at Ferrari.
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Former team boss Stefano Domenicali is confident Sainz will know how to handle it, noting he has some key people to draw on for advice.
“I think that at this point [Fernando] Alonso will help him a lot in his adaptation,” he told Spain’s AS.
“Fernando and Carlos are very close friends and I think that he and his father will be able to pass on their experience to him.
“Carlos is very strong, both on the track and mentally. When you are the son of a world champion and you arrive in F1 you have to be very good.
“It will be important to prepare well this year to be able to withstand the pressure of Ferrari.”
On a side note, Alonso is only being linked to an F1 return at Renault for 2021, and Sainz admits it would be “great” to have his fellow countryman back on the grid.
“It would be great to be able to face him as an opponent,” he told Sky Italia. “I always say that F1 is for the best drivers in the world, and Fernando is one of them.”
