F1 | Ferrari: Sainz leaving for Melbourne, returning to Australia

Carlos Sainz will regularly take his place on the SF-24 at the Australian GP. The Spaniard rested in Madrid after last Saturday's appendectomy surgery in Jeddah and planned a rightly early departure for Melbourne over the weekend to split up the flight to Oceania and have a good adaptation to the time zone.

The Iberian had greatly impressed the team because the day after the surgical operation he was already in the Cavallino pits to follow Oliver Bearmann's debut in his car: Carlos sat next to the engineers in the back box and was able to analyze the behavior of the red of the young Englishman from telemetry.

Ferrari goes to Melbourne to confirm its role as the second force in the world championship while waiting for the first updates to arrive in the first Asian trip to the Japanese GP in Suzuka. Sainz can't wait to get back in the car because he immediately found a good feeling with the SF-24 and is aware of aiming for a positive result at Albert Park too, after the podium achieved in the comeback at the Bahrain GP.

Formula 2 will also race in Australia so, possibly, Bearman will also be there as a reserve driver. The Scuderia has not activated alternative plans, trusting in the Spaniard's recovery: Carlos wants to be in his place regularly, also because the staff who manage him want to give themselves a month to close the gap, after Sainz found himself without a steering wheel with the Lewis Hamilton's appointment to Maranello from next year.

The Iberian has many avenues open not least Red Bull where he could return to a partnership with Max Verstappen at the start of his career. Aston Martin and Audi are also in the mix, while there doesn't appear to be direct interest from Mercedes.

Among the collateral initiatives of Carlos, who in February announced the birth of the CS55 Racing brand in karting in collaboration with the Italian manufacturer OTK, there will be the supply of vehicles to the Karting Academy, the new series of the Real Federación Española de Automovilismo reserved for children aged between 6 and 8 years old who will compete in the Spanish Karting Championship (CEK Finetwork).