The final approval will be given by the two free practice sessions scheduled for tomorrow, but Carlos Sainz said he was very confident about the chances of being regularly at the start of the Australian Grand Prix.
After the surgery in Jeddah, Sainz faced some difficult days, first the forced rest in his home in Madrid, then the long journey towards Melbourne. Only in the last few days has he been able to resume training in the gym and, by his own admission, his physical form will not be the best.
Sainz confirmed that he will be the first to raise his arm if he doesn't feel ready for the weekend, his physical state will also be assessed by the FIA doctors who are monitoring the situation. Carlos also asked Alexander Albon for advice (who found himself in the same situation in 2022) and in the end he confirmed himself as optimistic, everything suggests that we will see him regularly at the start of Sunday's race.
How have the last two weeks been and how are you preparing to get back on track this weekend?
“I'm fine, every day that passes I feel better and better, but the first week was hard, I spent a lot of time in bed. Then I started to improve and I'm confident I can get in the car tomorrow.”
You underwent surgery a few days ago and you already feel ready to drive an F1…
“First of all I believe that this is possible thanks to the progress that medicine has made in the last 20-30 years. My father had a similar problem many years ago and underwent a more invasive operation, today thanks to laparoscopy three very small holes are made and this halves the recovery time. Will I be 100%? Surely not. That's not a lie, you 100% get there when you can train for ten days and complete simulator sessions, which I couldn't do. But I have a positive feeling, we'll see how I feel tomorrow.”
Carlos Sainz, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
What was it like seeing another driver drive your car? What do you think of Ollie's debut?
“It wasn't a good feeling being a spectator, especially after such a strong start to the season. Seeing how competitive the car was in Jeddah obviously made me think about the points lost. Then on Saturday I managed to be on the track before the race, the doctors advised me to take a walk after the operation so instead of walking to my hotel room I went to the paddock and watched the race with my engineers “.
“I tried to help Bearman as much as I could, I think Ollie did a really good job. I agree with Charles, the young drivers today are very prepared, they work on the simulator and the tests with the cars from the previous two seasons help a lot But Ollie was especially good at managing the pressure.”
Back in Jeddah, you initially told us that you were feeling unwell due to food poisoning. How did you realize that the problem was something else?
“When I arrived in the paddock on Wednesday I started to feel really ill, and the symptoms were classic food poisoning. I had a very high fever, but on Thursday, thanks also to the drugs, I managed to jump into the car.”
“But at the end of the day I realized that I couldn't carry on like this for the whole weekend and, above all, it became clear that if I didn't improve I would have to go to hospital, and that's what happened. I was diagnosed with 'appendicitis, which is not easy to diagnose because my tests were not very clear and I didn't have the classic symptoms of someone who has this problem. However, the doctors were convinced that that was the diagnosis, and they subjected me to the operation. As soon as it was finished it was a great relief… I immediately felt much better!”.
What do you expect from tomorrow? Have you also taken into account the possibility of not making it?
“Seeing the exercises I can do in the gym I think I'll be ready to get in the car. Having said that, obviously I'm not stupid, if I'm not feeling well I'll be the first to raise my hand and say I need another two weeks of recovery. This is the plan agreed together with the FIA, tomorrow I will have another check-up with the Federation doctors, they are monitoring my progress.”
“And I'll add that I'm the first to not want to make things worse, I'll be very clear about my condition and everything. Going back to Thursday in Jeddah, I wouldn't have gotten in the car if it wasn't possible, I completed 26 laps, and even if they weren't easy to do, I still finished the program.”
What kind of problems might you have tomorrow?
“I found a lot of support from Alex Albon, he also went through a similar situation. I asked him about getting back in the car and he confirmed that at first he felt a little strange but then he quickly adapted. We'll see, in the end the answer will come when I'm in the car, what I can say now is that I'm much better than yesterday, and yesterday I was much better than two days ago. So also thanks to this progress I am quite optimistic.”
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