F1 | Vasseur optimistic about Sainz's return for the Australian GP

In Saudi Arabia, an appendicitis problem forced Carlos Sainz to miss the Jeddah event, leaving the wheel to reserve driver Oliver Bearman from the third free practice session onwards. In reality, after feeling ill already on Wednesday, a day dedicated to interviews and meetings with the media, the Spaniard had tried to get into the car for the two free practice sessions on Thursday, but the pain and the need to undergo the intervention led him to have to miss the race.

Sainz underwent immediate surgery in Saudi Arabia and was deemed fit enough to enter the paddock for Saturday's race, albeit proceeding with extreme caution. The Ferrista then returned to Europe on Sunday, where a period of rest awaits him while waiting to understand if he will be present in Australia.

The previous episode is the one involving Alex Albon in 2022, who underwent emergency surgery for appendicitis on the weekend of the Italian Grand Prix in Monza in 2022, thus having to miss the race, only to return to the car two weeks later in time for the Singapore Grand Prix. However, each individual responds differently and has their own peculiarities: furthermore, there is also the long journey to Australia and the need to adapt to the change of time zone, which requires additional physical effort. This means he will have to travel this weekend to arrive in Melbourne on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.

His training program was obviously interrupted to allow him to recover after the surgery and this is another aspect that must be taken into consideration. However, the plan is for him to hit the road and have a final decision made before the start of Friday's race.

“Honestly, I don't know that,” Vasseur said when asked about Sainz's possible return after the Jeddah match. “The recovery so far is amazing, the fact that he was able to come today to be with the team is a great sign and great support for us.”

“Now he will come back with me tomorrow [domenica] and he will have a week of complete rest, and we will make a decision on when he will fly to Melbourne in a week's time. But I'm quite optimistic.”

Vasseur admitted that Sainz was initially thought to have some form of food poisoning, before it became apparent that his ailment was more serious. “It was a strange situation. At the beginning of the weekend we were convinced that it was poisoning. On Thursday he struggled a lot in both sessions with fever and stomach problems, but he was convinced that the following day [venerdì] it would have gone much better.”

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

“However, the next day he called me in the morning and told me that he would probably miss FP3, but would definitely be there for qualifying. By 11.30 he was in hospital and it was clear that we were not going in the right direction. But thanks to the Jeddah hospital and all the collaborators, they performed the operation on Friday and this morning [sabato] I went to see him and he was completely fine, It's a great recovery and now we need to focus on Melbourne. He needs to rest well this week and we'll see next week.”

Sainz still tried to get on track on Thursday during free practice, even though his day was clearly influenced by both pain and fever, so much so that he was destroyed at the end of the two sessions: “I think it's a family trait! strong enough to pull Carlos out of the car,” Vasseur joked.

“When he arrived on Thursday morning, he wasn't feeling well: 'Let me try to do a few laps' he told us, but he did the whole session. The afternoon was exactly the same. Already at this stage it was incredible for me, because I found out that after the session he was completely destroyed.”

Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“If you look at the results of FP1 and FP2, he had very good pace, and he was also able to do the long stints, which was fantastic. But now let's focus on Carlos' future. The most important thing is not to push today, but to recover and recover properly. I don't want to rush, but he is an adult and he will make the right decision,” added the Team Principal.

In case Sainz is not able to recover in time for Australia, Oliver Bearman will take his place on the SF-24 again, who will still be present in Melbourne for the Formula 2 stage, as happened in Jeddah. Given the long Formula 1 calendar, Ferrari has in fact decided to give breathing space to the other two reserves, Antonio Giovinazzi and Robert Swhartzman, both also busy with the WEC programme.