Carlos Sainz jr. he is a staple of Ferrari, just like Charles Leclerc. The Spaniard has integrated perfectly into the Maranello team and represents an important asset of the team that wants to return to victory next year.
Carlos is seventh in the drivers’ world championship, just behind his Monegasque teammate, with a gap of just 6.5 points, demonstrating that he is able to keep up with the well-known teammate.
Sainz is credited with having entered in perfect harmony with the technicians of the Sports Management because his debriefings are full of important information in understanding the different aspects that make up the performance of the SF21.
Carlos Sainz Jr, Ferrari
Photo by: Charles Coates / Motorsport Images
The Madrid-born for the first time landed in a top team after being “born” in Toro Rosso and passing through Renault and McLaren. The 27-year-old, however, is a rider who has shown a strong personality, without erasing his previous professional background that formed him to become the solid conductor of today’s Cavallino.
The steering wheel of Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari SF21 with the clutch levers angled downwards
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
The concrete example that testifies to what we are saying is given by the steering wheel-computer: Sainz did not adopt the solution used by Charles Leclerc, but asked and, rightly obtained, to adapt the clutch control to the one used at McLaren on the MCL35 l last year, below.
Detail of Carlos Sainz’s steering wheel on last year’s McLaren MCL35
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Carlos has done nothing but repeat what Lewis Hamilton had chosen to do when he switched to Mercedes from McLaren: the world champion chose to reproduce the same buttons on the wheel of the Star that he used on the Woking car.
In the case of Sainz, however, the Iberian did not ask for the modification of the front part, but only for the adjustment of the clutch levers to the solution he was used to at McLaren. Carlos has two levers equipped with carbon fingers that are inclined downwards to obtain the best ergonomics in the grip in a delicate moment of the race such as the start.
The steering wheel of Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari SF70 with the clutch thimbles still in metal
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Sebastian Vettel on the Ferrari SF70H used a similar version, but with the two perfectly horizontal vanes (above) which, at the 2017 Spanish GP, the solution’s debut race, still had the metal thimbles, then replaced with carbon ones.
The German later took great care in developing his own solutions in search of the best possible shot. The four-time world champion, in fact, experimented with the unique balance wheel which, according to him, allowed him to have greater sensitivity in the clutch release phase, while his teammate Kimi Raikkonen had remained faithful to his two “ears”.
Charles Leclerc’s steering wheel on last year’s Ferrari SF1000
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Seb, being left handed, had chosen the clutch handle on his left hand, while Charles Leclerc uses the same system, but being right has the long lever mounted upside down for use with the right hand.
The steering wheel of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari SF90
Photo by: Giorgio Piola
Sainz, therefore, goes on his way: by carefully observing the back of his steering wheel in comparison with that of Charles it emerges that there are also differences in the shift paddles: the Spaniard adopts shorter levers than those of Leclerc and with shapes and decidedly different curvatures, more functional to your fingers.
It emerges from the drawings of Giorgio Piola how important it is to take care of every little detail which, however minimally, can impact performance in a crucial moment such as a start of a Grand Prix.
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