A more than healthy exercise in this Formula 1 season is to cover Max Verstappen and, therefore, Sergio Pérez, who is in charge of covering himself. Many fans are already doing it, so they save themselves the tedium of watching the military parade that Red Bull is taking and which, except on rare occasions (two in a year and a half, in fact), has ended with the same protagonists filling the drawer. The same thing happened in Suzuka and without much history. This time not even Checo's second place was in danger because they had a more than comfortable race.
In that sense, seeing who occupies third place is one of the attractions this season has. And by pure statistics, that is Carlos Sainz. The Madrid native put together a performance this Sunday that is well worth a contract, if the team bosses realize what they have on their hands. At the wheel of a Ferrari that is clearly the alternative to Red Bull, a Sainz who started fourth soon got rid of the ghosts of being sunk and left out not only his former teammate Lando Norris, whom he unceremoniously overtook on the track, but also to candidates of the stature of Lewis Hamilton, who will replace him, and Charles Leclerc whose results (comparatively speaking) are beginning to call into question the bet they have made on him since Maranello.
Managing difficult situations is one of Sainz's strengths. He made it clear the moment he won a race after being unable to run in the previous one due to appendicitis. That Sainz grows in difficult situations is more than proven. In Suzuka, without reaching so much tension, he did have to slightly vary the start of his strategy.
And the pilots experienced not one but two exits. Hunger is always felt more in the home of the poor, and Williams' situation is a good example of this. While in Red Bull, a team with an enviable track record but little history, they are living a second golden era, in the almost legendary British team, an old sunken giant with a memorable history, they are in the doldrums. Alex Albon crashed on the first lap after a collision with Daniel Ricciardo, whose future in F1 is increasingly drifting towards inevitable retirement, and both ended up crashing into the protections. Result: red flag for half an hour and wait for the protections to be repaired.
Sainz was seen leaving again with the 'miura' of Fernando Alonso behind, who also had the advantage of starting with new soft tires. Aston Martin's goal is to score points and not go too far from the 'top 5', but it is clear that they still have a little bit left. In fact, on paper, they are the fifth team on the grid. The Asturian claimed that the simulations gave him a ninth place at most and he entered sixth at the finish line.
But the strategies worked in his favor, and that of Sainz. In fact, it was the battle on the wall that decided it, not only for him, but also for his teammate, Leclerc who entered fourth after being overtaken at the end by the Spaniard and who was still named driver of the day. Everyone's management was more than generous, although in Sainz's case it has even more merit given the context.
Alonso, above; Stroll, below
While at Ferrari they are fighting for podiums and the situation is balanced between their riders, with only four points between them (although Sainz has one less race), the biggest difference is that of Alonso and Lance Stroll. While Alonso expected to be ninth and finished sixth, his teammate did not go beyond twelfth despite the fact that he was aiming for tenth. Scoring is the challenge they have in the Silverstone team, not only for themselves as a team but to give arguments to who they must convince to stay (Alonso) or who can replace him (Sainz, among others). Right now, Aston Martin is in an uncomfortable no-man's zone that has no signs of being resolved in the short term.
#podium #cries #future #Carlos #Sainz
